LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT  OK 

A 


Class 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES 


GRADUATES  OF  YALE  COLLEGE 


WITH 


Annals  of  the  College  History 


VOL.    IV. 


JULY,    1778- -JuNE,    1792 


FRANKLIN    BOWDITCH    DEXTER,    LiTT.D. 


HENRY    HOLT   AND   COMPANY 

1907 


COPYRIGHT,    1907 

BY 

HENRY  HOLT  &  CO. 


'V 


V 

A* 


THE  TUTTLE,    MOREHOUSK  &  TAYLOR  PRESS,   NEW  HAVEN,   CONN. 


TO 

DANIEL   COIT   OILMAN,    LL.D. 

IN   MEMORY  OF  HIS  GUIDANCE  AND  EXAMPLE 

FIFTY  YEARS   AGO 

WHICH   FIRST   INSPIRED 

AN    INTEREST   IN    THE   COLLEGE   HISTORY 

THIS    VOLUME 
IS    GRATEFULLY    INSCRIBED 


Nescire  autem  quid  antea  quam  natus   sis  acciderit,  id  est  semper   esse 
puerum. 

Cicero,  Orator,  34. 


Homines  quidem  pereunt,  ipsa  autem  humanitas,  ad  quam  homo  effingitur, 
permanet. 

Seneca,  Epist.  65,  7. 


'Quis  leget  haec?'    'Min'  tu  istud  ais?    Nemo  hercule.'    'Nemo?' 
'Vel  duo,  vel  nemo.' 

Persius,  Sat.  i,  2-3. 


Historiam   ..,  quae  non  ostentationi,  sed  fidei  veritatique  componitur. 

Pliny,  Epist.  7,  17,  3. 


PREFACE 


Circumstances  have  enabled  the  author  to  prepare  the  present 
volume  more  rapidly  than  any  of  its  predecessors,  though  this 
may  be  partly  due  to  a  smaller  amount  of  research  as  more  modern 
times  are  reached.  The  author  is  as  conscious  of  the  imperfections 
of  his  work  as  any  critic  can  be ;  but  believes  it  wiser  to  put 
in  type  his  material  as  it  is,  rather  than  delay  for  possible 
improvement. 

He  is  again  indebted  to  his  friend,  Mr.  John  M.  Gaines  (Yale 
1896),  a  Fellow  of  the  Actuarial  Society  of  America,  for  valuable 
vital  statistics  which  appear  in  the  Appendix. 

If  another  volume  of  this  series  should  be  undertaken,  it  would 
probably  include  the  classes  from  1792  to  1805. 

YALE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY, 
June,   1907 


CONTENTS 


Preface  .........        v 

Annals,  1778  ........  I 

Sketches,  Class  of  1778  ......        2 

Annals,  1778-79  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .89 

Sketches,  Class  of  1779  .  .  .  .  .  90 

Annals,  1779-80  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .135 

Sketches,  Class  of  1780  ......     136 

Annals,  1780-81  ........  175 

Sketches,  Class  of  1781  ......     176 

Annals,  1781-82  .  .  .  .  .  ...  .  213 

Sketches,  Class  of  1782  ......    214 

Annals,  1782-83  ........  246 

Sketches,  Class  of  1783  ......     247 

Annals,  1783-84  ........  318 

Sketches,  Class  of  1784  .  .  .  .  .  .319 

Annals,  1784-85  ........  375 

Sketches,  Class  of  1785  ......     376 

Annals,  1785-86  ........  448 

Sketches,  Class  of  1786  .  .  .  .  .  -449 

Annals,  1786-87  ........  521 

Sketches,  Class  of  1787  .  .  .  .  .  .523 

Annals,  1787-88 588 

Sketches,  Class  of  1788  .  .  .  .  .  .589 

Annals,  1788-89  ........  626 

Sketches,  Class  of  1789  ......    627 

Annals,  1789-90  ........  660 

Sketches,  Class  of  1790  ......     661 

Annals,  1790-91  ........  701 

Sketches,  Class  of  1791  .  .  ...  .  .     702 

Annals,  1791-92  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .          740 

Appendix  .........     741 

Additions  and  Corrections  ......          745 

Index  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  -747 


TJX 

or  THf          A 

g    UNIVERSITY 

OF 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES 


ANNALS    OF    YALE    COLLEGE 


Annals,    1778 


At  the  date  of  President  Stiles's  inauguration,  on  July 
8,  the  number  of  students  enrolled  as  members  of  the 
College  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-two ;  and  the  officers 
in  charge  of  this  body  included  two  Professors  (of  Divin- 
ity and  of  Mathematics)  and  three  Tutors.  The  largest 
class  was  the  Senior,  numbering  thirty-nine,  and  this  was 
also  a  class  of  exceptional  brilliancy. 

The  most  important  incident  in  the  two  months  which 
intervened  before  Commencement,  was  the  receipt  by  Dr. 
Stiles  on  August  22  of  a  letter  from  the  Hon.  Silas  Deane 
(Yale  1758),  late  Commissioner  to  France,  proposing  the 
establishment  of  a  Professorship  of  the  French  language 
in  the  College  and  the  gathering  of  a  collection  of  French 
authors  for  the  Library.  He  offered  his  agency  in  solicit- 
ing money  and  books  in  France  to  carry  out  these  pur- 
poses, if  he  could  be  assured  that  the  project  was 
acceptable. 

Dr.  Stiles  appears  to  have  favored  the  idea,  but  the 
Corporation  gave  it  little  encouragement,  while  they  post- 
poned a  final  decision;  and  Deane's  subsequent  history 
was  not  such  as  to  help  the  matter. 

The  Commencement  was  a  private  one,  on  September  9. 


Sketches,   Class  of  1778 


*Joel  Barlow,  A.M.,   LL.D.   Univ.   Georg.    1809, 

apud  Aul.  Gall.  Legat.  *i8i2 

*Phineas  Bartholomew  *i8i6 

*Abrahamus  Bishop,  A.M.  *i844 

*Shubael  Breed,  A.M.  *i84O 

*  Aaron  Buel,  A.M.  1786 

*Benjamin  Chaplin,  et  Harv.  1779,  A.M.  *I7^>9 

*Ebenezer  Daggett,  A.M.  "1781 

*  Johannes  Alexis  Dibble,  A.M.  *I79& 
*Obadias  Dickinson,  A.M.  *i844 
*Henricus  Ely,  A.M.  "1835 
*Edmundus  Foster,  A.M.  1786  et  Harv.  1784  *i826 

*  Jonathan  Frisbie  *:8o4 
*Ezekiel  Gilbert,  A.M.  1793,  e  Congr.  *i84i 
*Thomas  Gold,  A.M.  *i827 

*  Johannes  Goodrich,  A.M.  *i8oo 
*Fredericus  Guilielmus  Hotchkiss,  A.M. 

*Obadias  Hotchkiss,  A.M. 

*Stephanus  Jacob,  A.M.  1788  et  Dartm.  1803,  Reip. 

Viridim.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  Princ.  *i8i7 

*Guilielmus  Johnson  *I779 

*David  Judson,  A.M.  *i84i 

*  Aaron  Kellogg  *i83O 
*Nathan  Leavenworth,  A.M.  1793  *J799 
*Josias  Meigs,  A.M.,  Tutor,  Math,  et  Philos.  Nat. 

Prof.,  Univ.  Georg.  Praeses  et  Math.,  Philos. 
Nat.,  Chem.  Prof.,  in  Coll.  Columbian.  Wash. 

Philos.  Nat.  Prof.  *i822 
*Ashurus  Miller,  Reip.  Conn.  Cur.  Super.  Jurid., 

Socius  ex  officio  *i82i 

*  Johannes  Mix,  A.M.  "1844 
*Josephus  Noyes,  A.M.  *i8i7 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  3 

*Aegidius  Pettibone,  A.M.  *i8n 

*Daniel  Reed  "i&H 

*Ebenezer  Sage,  e  Congr^  *i^34 

*Noachus  Smith,  Reip.  Viridim.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  *i8i2 

*Asa  Spalding,  A.M.  Harv.  1791  *i8n 

*Josias  Spaulding,  A.M.  "1823 

*Sethus  Storrs,  A.M.  *i837 
*Zephanias  Swift,  A.M.,  LL.D.  1817  et  Mediob. 

1821,  e  Congr.,  Reip.  Conn.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid. 

Princ.  "1823 
*Urias  Tracy,  A.M.,  e  Congr.,  Rerumpubl.  Foed. 

Sen.  "1807 
*Noachus  Webster,  A.M.  et  Neo-Caes.  1795,  LL.D. 

1823  et  Mediob.  1830  "1843 

*  Johannes  Welch,  Socius  ex  off.  *i844 
*Ichabod  Wetmore,  A.M.  ^785 

*  Alexander  Wolcott  *i828 
*Oliverus   Wolcott,   A.M.,   LL.D.    1819  et   Brun. 

1799  et  Neo-Caes.  1799,  Rerumpubl.  Foed.  The- 
saur.  Secretarius  etiam  Cur.  in  Jurisd.  Conn. 
Jurid.,  Reipubl.  Conn.  Gubernator,  Socius  ex 
officio  "1833 


JOEL  BARLOW  was  born  in  Redding,  Fairfield  County, 
Connecticut,  on  March  24,  1754,  being  the  youngest  son 
of  Samuel  Barlow,  a  respectable  farmer  of  Fairfield  and 
Redding,  and  grandson  of  Lieutenant  Samuel  Barlow  of 
Fairfield.  His  mother  was  Esther,  daughter  of  Nathan- 
iel Hull,  of  Redding. 

His  early  studies  were  directed  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Bartlett  (Yale  1749),  from  whose  instruction 
he  passed  to  Moor's  Indian  Charity  School,  at  Hanover, 
New  Hampshire.  While  studying  there  his  father  died, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1774  he  entered  Dartmouth  College. 

At  an  early  period  in  the  College  course  he  removed  to 
Yale,  and  while  still  an  undergraduate  he  became  noted 


4  Yale  College 

for  his  literary  promise.  At  the  presentation  of  his  Class 
for  degrees  he  was  called  on  to  deliver  a  poem,  his  first 
publication. 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  after  graduation,  teaching 
and  pursuing  studies  in  law  and  in  literature,  and  finding 
it  difficult  to  decide  on  a  permanent  occupation,  until  finally 
his  friends  persuaded  him  to  apply  for  a  chaplaincy  in  the 
army.  On  August  6,  1780,  he  was  admitted  to  member- 
ship in  the  College  Church,  and  eight  days  later  he  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  Association  of  Min- 
isters. He  was  already  appointed  Chaplain  of  the  Fourth 
Massachusetts  Brigade,  and  joined  the  army  in  New  Jer- 
sey on  September  2. 

The  war  continued  for  three  years  longer,  during  which 
he  fulfilled  (though  somewhat  perfunctorily)  the  duties 
of  his  office. 

In  College  he  had  become  attached  to  Ruth  Baldwin,  of 
New  Haven,  a  younger  sister  of  his  tutor,  Abraham  Bald- 
win (Yale  1772) ;  and  when  her  father's  consent  to  their 
union  was  withheld,  owing  to  Mr.  Barlow's  unsettled  sit- 
uation, he  persuaded  the  lady  to  agree  to  a  secret  mar- 
riage, which  took  place  at  New  Haven  on  January  26, 
1781.  The  secret  was  kept  for  nearly  a  year,  and  the 
young  couple  did  not  begin  their  independent  life  until 
late  in  1782,  when  they  hired  a  house  in  Hartford.  While 
still  retaining  his  chaplaincy  (until  October,  1783)  Mr. 
Barlow  declined  a  call  to  the  tutorship  at  Yale  (in  Sep- 
tember, 1781),  and  subsequently  began  law  studies  in 
Hartford,  while  still  finding  his  chief  pleasure  in  poetical 
composition. 

In  July,  1784,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  a  printer  in 
Hartford  for  the  publication  of  a  weekly  newspaper,  called 
The  American  Mercury,  with  which  he  remained  con- 
nected until  November,  1785.  At  this  date  he  resolved  to 
apply  himself  seriously  to  the  law,  and  in  the  following 
April  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Fairfield.  In  the 
meantime  *he  had  conducted  a  book-store,  mainly  for  the 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  5 

sale  of  the  edition  of  Dr.  Watts's  version  of  the  Psalms, 
which  he  had  lately  revised. 

He  did  not,  however,  succeed  as  a  lawyer ;  his  manners 
and  address  were  not  popular,  and  his  elocution  was 
embarrassed;  so  that  his  main  occupation  was  still  the 
cultivation  of  literature. 

Finally,  in  the  spring  of  1788,  another  employment 
unexpectedly  presented  itself.  The  Ohio  Company,  organ- 
ized in  1786,  had  secured  by  the  agency  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Manasseh  Cutler  a  large  grant  of  land  from  Congress; 
and  a  subordinate  enterprise,  the  Scioto  Land  Company, 
undertook  to  dispose  of  its  territory  to  European  immi- 
grants. For  this  purpose  an  agent  was  needed,  who  should 
go  abroad  to  enlist  settlers.  Mr.  Barlow — probably  at  the 
suggestion  of  his  brother-in-law,  the  Hon.  Abraham  Bald- 
win— was  selected  for  this  duty,  and  sailed  for  France 
on  May  25,  1788. 

The  story  of  his  embassy  is  a  painful  record  of  failure, 
the  first  responsibility  for  which,  however,  lies  at  the  door 
of  his  employers.  At  the  same  time  it  is  doubtless  true 
that  his  lack  of  experience  and  his  imprudence  and  mis- 
takes of  judgment  contributed  to  the  result.  The  promises 
made  to  the  settlers  who  emigrated  from  France  were  not 
fulfilled,  and  the  whole  scheme  practically  collapsed  in  the 
fall  of  1790. 

Meantime  he  had  traveled  in  England  and  on  the  Con- 
tinent, had  applied  himself  to  composition,  and  had 
enjoyed  large  opportunities  of  literary  intercourse.  The 
associations  which  he  formed  in  Paris  combined  with 
innate  tendencies  which  had  long  been  latent  to  make 
him  an  avowed  liberal  in  religion  and  a  republican  in  polit- 
ical sympathies.  His  wife  joined  him  in  the  summer 
of  1790,  and  the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution  made 
it  prudent  to  spend  a  good  part  of  the  next  two  years  in 
London.  This  refuge,  however,  failed  them  in  Novem- 
ber, 1792,  when  a  political  pamphlet  from  his  pen  was 
suppressed  by  order  of  the  British  government  and  its 


6  Yale  College 

author  marked  for  arrest.  In  the  preceding  month,  in 
recognition  of  his  assistance  as  a  pamphleteer,  the  com- 
pliment of  French  citizenship  had  been  conferred  on  him 
by  the  National  Convention;  and  now  he  was  invited  to 
stand  for  election  as  a  deputy  to  the  Convention  from  the 
Department  of  Savoy.  The  attempt  was  unsuccessful, 
but  we  owe  to  it  Barlow's  best  poetical  effort,  the  Ode  to 
Hasty  Pudding,  composed  in  a  Savoyard  inn. 

In  June,  1793,  his  wife  joined  him  in  Paris,  and  for  the 
next  two  years  he  appears  to  have  devoted  himself  to 
commerce  and  speculation,  with  a  view  to  retrieving  his 
fortunes,  which  had  been  sadly  impaired  by  his  support  of 
the  Republican  cause.  He  had  achieved  a  reasonable  suc- 
cess when,  in  the  summer  of  1795,  he  was  invited  by  the 
United  States  Government  to  accept  the  post  of  Consul  in 
Algiers,  with  the  design  of  effecting  the  ransom  of  the 
Americans  who  had  been  captured  by  the  piratical  Alger- 
ines  and  negotiating  a  treaty  for  future  security.  This 
business  absorbed  him  from  December,  1795,  to  Septem- 
ber, 1797,  and  was  creditably  accomplished. 

Then  followed  seven  years  of  literary  and  scholastic 
life  in  Paris,  enlivened  by  a  constant  and  keen  interest  in 
passing  political  events  both  in  Europe  and  America.  An 
interesting  evidence  of  his  views  is  given  in  a  striking 
letter  to  Washington,  in  October,  1798,  which  is  printed 
in  Washington's  Writings,  edited  by  Sparks,  vol.  ii,  pp. 
560-63. 

Finally,  in  the  summer  of  1805,  he  returned  to  the 
United  States,  with  the  intention  of  making  his  home  in 
Washington  and  devoting  himself  and  his  fortune  to 
building  up  a  National  Institution  for  education  and  the 
advancement  of  science.  The  latter  project  failed  to  enlist 
immediate  support  (though  it  led  to  the  establishment  of 
the  Columbian  University,  in  1821,  and  was  the  precur- 
sor of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences),  but  in  the  fall 
of  1807  Mr.  Barlow  purchased  a  charming  country-seat 
in  the  suburbs  of  Washington,  to  which  he  gave  the  name 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  ^ 

of  Kalorama,  and  which  became  a  favorite  resort  of  his 
literary  and  political  friends.  He  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  (of  Philadelphia) 
in  January,  1809,  and  in  the  same  year  received  the  degree 
of  LL.D.  from  the  University  of  Georgia.  Meanwhile 
he  devoted  himself  to  literature,  and  in  particular  began 
a  work  on  the  history  of  the  United  States,  which  he 
designed  to  serve  as  an  antidote  to  the  current  Federalist 
accounts. 

In  politics  he  sympathized  with  the  ruling  Virginian 
dynasty,  and  in  July,  1811,  President  Madison  sent  him 
as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  France,  with  the  hope  that 
his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  French  character  might  be 
of  service  in  obviating  the  disastrous  effects  on  American 
commerce  of  the  war  against  England.  But  Napoleon's 
preoccupation  with  larger  affairs  interfered,  and  Barlow 
was  able  to  accomplish  but  little.  After  more  than  a  year 
had  elapsed,  in  October,  1812,  negotiations  reached  the 
point  that  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  summoned  him 
to  Vilna,  in  West  Russia,  a  sort  of  head-quarters  in  Napo- 
leon's Russian  campaign,  in  order  that  the  much-desired 
treaty  of  commerce  might  there  be  signed. 

Under  an  overpowering  sense  of  duty,  Barlow  made  the 
wearisome  journey  to  Vilna,  and  was  there  impatiently 
awaiting  the  Emperor,  when  news  arrived  on  December  4 
of  the  defeat  of  the  French  and  Napoleon's  flight  for 
Paris.  He  then  retraced  his  steps,  in  a  winter  of  extreme 
severity,  under  conditions  of  the  most  trying  exposure, 
which  induced  or  aggravated  an  inflammation  of  the  lungs. 
When  his  illness  became  alarming  he  halted  at  the  village 
of  Zarnovich,  near  Cracow,  in  Poland,  where  he  died, 
five  days  later,  on  December  24,  1812,  in  his  59th  year. 

His  widow  returned  to  America  in  the  fall  of  1813,  and 
lived  in  seclusion  at  Kalorama,  until  her  death  there  on 
May  29,  1818,  in  her  62d  year.  They  had  no  children. 

To  Barlow's  owrn  generation  he  figured  as  a  poet  of 
distinction,  but  posterity  has  refused  to  substantiate  this 


8  Yale  College 

claim.  On  the  other  hand,  his  political  career  needed  the 
stamp  of  success  to  ensure  durable  fame,  but  he  was 
mocked  and  cajoled,  and  his  life  finally  thrown  away,  in 
the  vain  attempt  to  cope  with  the  remorseless  treachery  of 
Napoleon. 

His  religious  beliefs  have  excited  some  inquiry;  but 
the  facts  seem  to  be  that  while  he  nominally  remained  an 
adherent  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  so  proclaimed  him- 
self, in  his  freer  moments  he  did  not  hesitate  to  scoff  at 
everything  religious.  This  change  in  his  views  appears  to 
have  begun  as  early  as  his  residence  in  Hartford. 

His  portrait  was  painted  by  his  intimate  friend  and 
protege,  Robert  Fulton,  who  made  Barlow's  house  in  Paris 
his  home  from  1794  to  1801 ;  the  engraving  by  Durand 
has  often  been  reproduced. 

Two  brief  sketches  of  his  life,  by  P.  S.  Dupont  de 
Nemours  and  K.  E.  Oelsner  respectively,  were  printed  in 
Paris,  from  material  furnished  by  Mrs.  Barlow,  in  1813; 
and  a  few  months  later,  in  August,  1814,  the  Analectic 
Magazine,  of  Philadelphia,  published  a  fuller  and  really 
appreciative  sketch,  of  28  pages,  embellished  with  a 
portrait. 

In  the  next  generation,  a  grand-nephew  of  Barlow, 
Lemuel  G.  Olmstead  (Union  College  1834),  devoted  many 
years  to  the  accumulation  of  material  for  his  Memoir  and 
an  edition  of  his  collected  Writings;  but  died  in  1880  with 
the  task  still  unaccomplished.  Finally,  Mr.  Charles  Burr 
Todd,  a  native  of  Barlow's  own  native  place,  with  the  aid 
of  Mr.  Olmstead's  collections,  published  in  1886  the  Life 
and  Letters  of  Joel  Barlow,  zvith  extracts  from  his  works 
(8°,  pp.  iv,  306),  a  worthy  contribution  to  American  lit- 
erary history. 

He  published :  , 

i.  The  Prospect  of  Peace.  A  Poetical  Composition,  delivered  in 
Yale-College,  at  the  Public  Examination,  of  the  Candidates  for  the 
Degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts;  July  23,  1778.  New-Haven,  1778. 
8°,  pp.  12. 

[C.  H.  S.    J.  Carter  Brown  Libr.    M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  9 

This  spirited  and  devout  composition  is  on  many  accounts  remark- 
able, not  least  of  all,  in  view  of  his  future  history,  for  the  author's 
glowing  tributes  to  the  French  king  and  to  the  unknown  genius, 

"Who  guides  the  vengeariee  of  mechanic  power, 
To  blast  the  watery  world  and  guard  the  peaceful  shore." 

2.  An  Elegy  on  the  late  Honorable  Titus  Hosmer,  Esq ; .  .     Hart- 
ford [1780].    8°,  pp.  15. 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Publ.  John  Carter  Brown  Libr.  N  Y.  H.  S. 
Y.  C. 

Anonymous.  One  of  the  earliest  lines,  "The  Muse  which  thy  indul- 
gence bade  aspire,"  recalls  the  fact  that  it  was  Mr.  Hosmer's  early 
encouragement  which  led  to  Barlow's  devotion  to  the  theme  which 
engrossed  so  much  of  his  life,  the  Vision  of  Columbus. 

3.  A  Poem,  spoken  at  the  Public  Commencement  at  Yale  College, 
in  New-Haven,  September  12,  1781.     Hartford.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[B.  Ath.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

This  effort  is  notable  as  being  mainly  in  theme  a  prior  study  of 
the  author's  Vision  of  Columbus,  as  that  in  its  turn  is  of  his 
Columbiad. 

The  three  publications  thus  far  enumerated  were  reprinted  in 
Dr.  Elihu  H.  Smith's  American  Poems,  Litchfield,  1793. 

4.  Doctor  Watts's  Imitation  of  the  Psalms  of  David,  corrected 
and  enlarged.    By  Joel  Barlow.    To  which  is  added,  a  Collection  of 
Hymns.  . .   Hartford:   Printed  by  Barlow  and  Babcock,  1785.     12°, 
pp.  348.  [A.  C.  A.    M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

Numerous  other  editions  followed  in  subsequent  years.  Barlow's 
contributions  consisted  of  only  fourteen  Psalms  and  five  Hymns. 

5.  An  Oration,  Delivered  at  the  North  Church  in  Hartford,  at 
the  Meeting  of  the  Connecticut  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  July  4th, 
1787. .     Hartford,    sq.  8°,  pp.  20. 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  Brit.  Mus.  John  Carter  Brown  Libr. 
C.  H.  S.  Harv.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.  U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

This  was  also  published  in  Carey's  American  Museum  for  August, 
1787,  vol.  2,  pp.  135-42. 

6.  The  Vision  of  Columbus;   a  Poem  in  Nine  Books.     Hartford, 
1787.     8°,  pp.  258,  xii. 

[B.  Ath.  Biblioth.  national e.  Brit.  Mus.  Brown  Urtiv.  Harv. 
M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.  N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr. 
Y.  C. 


io  Yale  College 

With  an  exceedingly  interesting  list  of  subscribers,  headed  by 
"His  most  Christian  Majesty,  Louis  XVI"  (to  whom  the  poem  is 
dedicated),  "25  copies." 

The  same.    2d  ed.     Hartford,  1787.     12°,  pp.  258,  v. 
[A.  A.  S.     John  Carter  Brown  Libr.     Harv.     L.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
Y.  C. 

With  a  new  list  of  subscribers. 

The  same.    London,  1787.    12°,  pp.  xx,  244. 

[B.  Ath.     Biblioth.  nationale.     Brit.  Mus.     N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 

The  dedication  to  the  French  king  is  omitted. 

The  same.  The  Fifth  edition  corrected.  .  To  which  is  added, 
The  Conspiracy  of  Kings:  a  Poem,  by  the  same  Author.  Paris, 
J793-  8°,  pp.  iv,  304  and  portrait. 

[Biblioth.  nationale.  Brown  Univ.  Harv.  M.  H.  S.  Peabody 
Inst.,  Bolt.  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  U.  S. 

In  a  preface  the  author  states  that  he  is  informed  that  the  work 
has  been  reprinted  once  in  America  since  1787,  and  hence  this 
edition  is  called  the  fifth;  but  this  information  was  apparently 
incorrect. 

The  same.  With  explanatory  notes.  From  a  revised  edition  of 
the  Author.  Baltimore,  1814.  18°,  pp.  288. 

[A.  A.  S.    Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 

This  work,  the  plan  of  which  he  had  sketched  as  early  as  1779, 
was  a  philosophical  poem  of  nearly  five  thousand  lines  in  length, 
depicting  as  in  a  vision  shown  to  Columbus  the  future  glories  of 
America;  and  it  met  such  success  as  to  encourage  the  author  in 
devoting  twenty  years  more  to  the  subject  which  had  already  occu- 
pied him  for  nearly  half  that  time. 

7.  Advice  to  the  Privileged  Orders  in  the  several  States  of 
Europe,  resulting  from  the  Necessity  and  Propriety  of  a  general 
revolution  in  the  Principle  of  Government. — Part  i.  London,  1792. 
8°,  pp.  iii,  156.  [B.  Ath.  Brit.  Mus.  Harv.  Y.  C. 

Anonymous.  Published  at  the  beginning  of  February,  1792,  and 
suppressed  by  the  British  government  in  November.  In  a  later 
letter  Barlow  comments  on  the  title  as  unfortunate. 

The  same.  By  Joel  Barlow,  Esq.  Author  of  the  Vision  of 
Columbus,  and  the  Conspiracy  of  Kings.  2d  edition.  London, 
1792.  8°,  pp.  157.  [B.  Ath.  Brit.  Mus.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  n 

The  same.    3d  edition.    London,  1793.    8°,  pp.  167. 

[Biblioth.  nat.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Brit.  Mus.     Y.  C. 

The  same.    New  York,  1792.    8°,  pp.  118. 

[B.  Ath.     J.    Carter  B'rown  Dibr.     Brown    Univ.     Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

This  reprint  from  the  London  edition  is  copyrighted  on  June  n, 
1792. 

The  same.     Paris,  1792.    8°. 

The  same.     Part  2.    Paris,  1793.    8°,  pp.  101. 

Published  in  September,  1793. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

The  same.    London,  1793.    8°,  pp.  101.  [U.  S. 

The  same.     New  York,  1794.    8°,  pp.  88. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Harv.     U.  S. 

The  same.     London,  1795.     8°,  pp.  64. 

[Biblio'th.  nat.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown.     U.  S. 

The  same  in  German,  viz: — Outer  Rath  an  die  Volker  Euro- 
pens  bei  der  Nothwendigkeit,  die  Regierungsgrundsatze  iiberall  zu 
verandern.  London,  1792.  16°,  pp.  iv,  132.  [Harv. 

The  author's  name  is  given  in  the  Preface,  not  on  the  title-page. 

The  same,  in  French,  viz: — Avis  aux  Ordres  privilegies,  dans 
les  divers  etats  de  1'Europe. .  .  3e.  edition.  London,  1794.  8°. 

[Biblioth.  nat.    Brit.  Mus. 

The  same.    Seconde  partie.    Paris,  1794.    8°,  pp.  76. 

[R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  S. 

8.  The  Conspiracy  of  Kings ;  a  Poem :  addressed  to  the  Inhab- 
itants of  Europe,  from  another  quarter  of  the  world.  London, 
1792.  4°,  pp.  20.  [Brit.  Mus.  U.  S. 

Published  in  February,  1792 :  a  poem  of  285  lines,  on  the  coa- 
lition of  sovereigns  against  France. 

The  same.    Paris,  1793.    8°,  pp.  32. 

[Biblioth.  nat.    Harv.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.    Newburyport,  1794.    8°,  pp.  30. 

[A.  A.  S.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 

The  same.    3d  edition.    London,  1796.     12°.  [Brit.  Mus. 


iz  Yale  College 

9.  The  Confederacy  of  Kings  against  the  Freedom  of  the  World ; 
being  Free  thoughts  upon  the  present  state  of  French  Politics ;    A 
vindication  of  the  National  Assembly  in  suspending  Louis  XVI. 
Conjectures  on  the  movement  of  the  confederate  armies;   and  their 
influence  in  reinstating  the  King,  and  establishing  a  Constitution 
by  force.     In  Three  Letters  addressed  to  the  Right  Hon.  Edmund 
Burke.     London,  1792.     8°,  pp.  76.  [B.  Publ. 

This  anonymous  pamphlet  is  signed  "B.",  but  is  not  usually  cred- 
ited to  Barlow;  and  the  authorship  can  only  be  stated  as  probable. 

10.  A  letter  to  the  National  Convention  of  France,  on  the  defects 
in  the  Constitution  of   1791,  and  the  extent  of  the  Amendments 
which  ought  to  be  applied.    London,  1792.    8°,  pp.  70. 

[Biblioth.  national e.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     Y.  C. 

The  Letter  is  dated,  September  26,  1792. 

The  same.  London  (Published  by  the  Society  for  Constitu- 
tional Information,  1792).  8°,  pp.  48.  [Y.  C. 

The  same. — To  which  is  Added  The  Conspiracy  of  Kings,  a 
Poem.  New- York.  [1795?]  8°,  pp.  87. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Harv.    L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S. 
Y.  C. 

The  last  named  edition  was  published  by  John  Fellows  (Yale 
1783). 

The  same  in  French,  with  title : — Lettre  a  la  Convention  Nationale 
de  France,  sur  les  vices  de  la  Constitution  de  1791,  et  sur  1'etendue 
des  amendemens  a  y  porter,  pour  lesquels  cette  Convention  a  ete 
convoquee.  Traduite  de  1'anglais.  Paris,  1792.  8°,  pp.  90. 

[Biblioth.  nationale.    Brit.  Mus.     Y.  C. 

11.  Lettre  adressee  aux  habitants  du  Piemont,  sur  les  avantages 
de  la  Revolution  franchise  et  la  necessite  d'en  adopter  les  principes 
en  Italic.     [Grenoble,  1793.]    8°,  pp.  32.  [Biblioth.  nat. 

An  Italian  version  was  printed  at  Nice  in  the  winter  of  1792-93, 
and  reprinted  in  London  in  1795. 

An  English  translation  appeared,  as  follows : — A  Letter  addressed 
to  the  People  of  Piedmont,  on  the  Advantages  of  the  French  Rev- 
olution, and  the  necessity  of  adopting  its  principles  in  Italy.  Trans- 
lated from  the  French  by  the  Author.  New- York,  1795.  16°, 
pp.  45.  [A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  Harv.  L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

This  edition  was  printed  for  John  Fellows  (Y.  C.  1783),  and  has 
an  Advertisement  dated  July  15,  1794. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  13 

The  same.    London,  1795.    8°,  pp.  48. 

[Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    U.  S. 

12.  The  Hasty-Pudding:    a  Poem,   in  Three  Cantos.     Written 
at  Chambery,  in  Savoy,  January-,  1793.     [New  Haven,  1796.]     8°, 

PP-  IS- 

[/.  Carter  Brown  Libr.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 

This  first  separate  edition  of  Barlow's  best-known  poem  has  an 
Advertisement  prefixed,  dated  at  New  Haven,  April,  1796:  it  had 
already  been  printed  in  the  New-York  Magazine  for  January,  1796, 
pp.  41-49. 

The  same.    Salem,  1799.     12°,  pp.  21.  [B.  Ath.    Harv. 

Many  later  editions. 

13.  The  Political  •  Writings  of  Joel  Barlow.     Containing  Advice 
to  the  Privileged  Orders.    Letter  to  the  National  Convention.    Let- 
ter to  the  People  of  Piedmont.    The  Conspiracy  of  Kings.    A  New 
Edition  Corrected.    New- York,  1796.     12°,  pp.  258. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

This  edition  was  prepared  by  John  Fellows  (Yale  1783),  and  a 
very  interesting  letter,  written  by  Barlow  in  1795,  and  giving 
directions  for  it,  is  printed  in  the  Connecticut  Journal  for  August 
28,  1799. 

14.  The  Second  Warning  or  Strictures  on  the  Speech  delivered 
by  John  Adams,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  at  the 
opening  of  the  Congress  of  said  States  in  November  last.     Paris, 
1798.    8°,  pp.  28.  [M.  H.  S. 

The  pamphlet  is  lightened  by  the  introduction  of  many  poetical 
passages. 

15.  Joel  Barlow  to  his  Fellow  Citizens,  of  the  United  States  of 
America. — Letter  I.    On  the  system  of  policy  hitherto  pursued  by 
their  Government.    8°,  pp.  32.     [A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    M.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

Dated,  Paris,  March  4,  1799. 
The  same.    8°,  pp.  55. 

[B.  Ath.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Harv.     L.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
The  same.    Philadelphia,  1800.    8°,  pp.  27.  [Y.  C. 

The  same.  Letter  II.  On  certain  political  Measures  proposed  to 
their  consideration.  [Paris,  1799.]  8°,  pp.  102. 

[A.  A.  S.    Biblioth.  nationale.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 
Dated,  Paris,  December  20,  1799. 


14  Yale  College 

The  same.    8°,  pp.  66.  [M.  H.  S. 

The  same.     New  York,  1801.'  8°,  pp.  40.  [N.  Y.  H.  S. 

The  same.     Philadelphia,  1801.    8°,  pp.  71. 

[B.  Ath.     Brit.   Mus.      Y.   C. 

The  same.  Letters  I  and  II,  with  title:  Letters  from  Paris  to 
the  Citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America,  on  the  system  of  pol- 
icy hitherto  pursued  by  their  government  relative  to  their  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  England  and  France,  etc.  London,  1800. 
8°,  pp.  116.  [Brit.  Mus.  J.  Carter  Brown  Libr.  Harv.  Y.  C. 

This  contains,  in  an  Appendix  to  Letter  I,  a  letterv  To  George 
Washington,  dated,  Paris,  Oct.  2,  1798,  in  which  he  pleads  against 
a  war  with  France,  and  suggests  an  attempt  at  negotiation  for  the 
existing  difficulties. 

The  same,  with  title :  Two  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 
States,  and  one  to  General  Washington.  Written  from  Paris  in  the 
year  1799,  on  our  Political  and  Commercial  Relations.  New-Haven, 
1806.  12°,  pp.  119. 

[Biblioth.  nationale.    Brit.  Mus.    L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  first  of  these  Letters  was  occasioned  by  the  publication  (with 
invidious  comments)  in  the  American  papers  of  a  garbled  copy 
of  a  private  letter  of  his  to  his  brother-in-law,  Abraham  Baldwin, 
dated  in  March,  1798. 

1 6.  A  View  of  the  Public  Debt,  Receipts,  and  Expenditures  of 
the  United  States.    London,  1800.    8°,  pp.  67. 

17.  Prospectus  of  a  National  Institution,  to  be  established  in  the 
United  States.    Washington  City,  1806.    8°,  pp.  44. 

[Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S.      U.  S.  (imperfect).    Y.  C. 

Anonymous. 

Reprinted  in  the  Papers  of  the  American  Historical  Associ- 
ation, volume  4,  pp.  85-97.  New  York,  1890,  and  in  the  Report  of 
the  United  States  National  Museum  for  1897,  part  2,  pp.  329-41. 

18.  The  Columbiad:    a  Poem.     Philadelphia,  1807.     4°,  pp.  xvi, 
454  +12  plates. 

[Biblioth.  nationale.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brooklyn  Libr.    Harv. 
N.  7.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

This  magnificent  edition  was  printed  from  specially  made  type 
at  the  expense  of  Robert  Fulton,  and  contains  an  engraving  of  the 
author's  portrait  by  Fulton.  It  is  an  amplification  of  No.  6  above. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  15 

The  same.     Philadelphia,  1809.     2  vols.     12°. 
[A.  A.  S.    Bowdoin  Coll.    N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.    Peabody  Inst.,  Bait. 
U.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  same.     London,  1809.    8* ',  pp.  xxxv,  426. 

[A.  A.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.     Paris,  1813.    8°,  pp.  xi,  448  +  4  pi. 

[Biblioth.  nationals.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.  •  Y.  C. 

The  same.  With  the  last  corrections  of  the  author.  Washing- 
ton, 1825.  8°,  pp.  xl,  448.  [U.  S. 

A  French  version  of  the  first  140  lines  of  Book  I,  is  given  in 
Oelsner's  Notice  of  Barlow. 

19.  Oration  delivered  at  Washington,  July  Fourth,  1809;   at  the 
request  of  the  Democratic  Citizens  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Washington  City,  1809.    8°,  pp.  14. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath,    B.  Publ.    Harv.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     Y.  C. 

The  same,  with  title :  Oration,  pronounced  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1809,  before  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the  Heads  of 
Departments,  and  the  Democratic  Citizens  of  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, convened  in  the  City  of  Washington.  Newburyport,  1809. 
8°,  pp.  16.  [Brown  Univ.  Y.  C. 

20.  Letter  to  Henry  Gregoire,  Bishop,  Senator,  Compte  of  the 
Empire  and  Member  of  the  Institute  of  France,  in  Reply  to  his 
Letter  on  the  Columbiad.    Washington  City,  1809.    8°,  pp.  14. 

[A.   A.   S.     B.   Ath.     Brit.   Mus.     Harv.     L.   I.   Hist.   Soc. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

Dated  September  13,  1809.  The  Abbe  Gregoire  had  published 
"Critical  Observations  on  the  Columbiad,"  as  tending  to  cast  con- 
tempt on  the  Catholic  religion,  and  Barlow  felt  obliged  to  make  a 
reply. 

In  Dr.  E.  H.  Smith's  American  Poems,  Litchfield,  1793,  pp.  94- 
136,  besides  Barlow's  Elegy  on  Hosmer,  and  Poem  at  the  Com- 
mencement in  1781,  various  shorter  pieces  are  given. 

He  also  contributed  a  Preface  (15  pages)  and  Notes  to  the  edi- 
tion of  Trumbull's  McFingal,  published  in  London  in  1792. 

He  was  one  of  the  authors  of  The  Anarchiad,  printed  in  the 
New-Haven  Gazette  in  1786-87,  and  separately  in  1861 ;  and  of 
The  Echo,  with  other  Poems,  published  in  1807. 


1 6  Yale  College 

A  letter  written  by  him  to  James  Cheetham,  in  1809,  in  defence 
of  Thomas  Paine,  is  printed  in  The  Theo philanthropist,  New  York, 
1810,  pp.  366-69. 

He  translated  from  the  French  Brissot  de  Warville's  Ne^v  Trav- 
els in  the.  United  States,  London,  1794,  2  vols.  8°  ;  and  also,  at  the 
author's  request,  the  Ruins  of  Volney,  Paris,  1802,  2  vols.  12°. 


AUTHORITIES. 

H.  Adams,  Hist,  of  the  U.  S.  under  Washington,  v,  495-96,  587-88.  John- 
Madison,  i,  102-06;  v,  299-300,  359,  ston,  Yale  in  the  Revolution,  338-39. 
427;  vi,  50,  55-57,  61,  245-^5.  /.  M cMaster,  Hist,  of  the  People  of  the 
Adams,  Works,  viii,  625.  J.  Q.  U.  S.,  ii,  399.  Mass.  Hist.  Society's 
Adams,  Diary,  ii,  444.  Alden,  Amer.  Collections,  6th  series,  viii,  35-36. 
Epitaphs,  iv,  159-62.  Amer.  Hist.  Mitchell,  American  Lands  and  Let- 
Association's  Papers,  iv,  116-19,  158,  ters,  168-78.  Monthly  Magazine, 
1 75-87-  American  Historical  Maga-  1798,  vi,  250-51.  New  Englander, 
zine,  i  (1836),  23-25.  Analectic  xxxii,  413-37;  xlvi,  825-35.  Pease 
Magazine,  iv,  130-58.  5".  Breck,  Rec-  and  Nile's,  Gazetteer  of  Conn,  and 
ollections,  171-72.  Conn.  Journal,  R.  I.,  187-91.  Schenck,  Hist,  of 
Aug.  28,  1799.  Cutler,  Life  of  Man-  Fairfield,  i,  352-53.  Pres.  Stiles,  Lit- 
asseh  Cutler,  i,  498-517.  Dall,  Ro-  erary  Diary,  ii,  288,  456,  458,  556-57; 
mance  of  the  Association,  77-78,  iii.  155-56.  Thacher,  Military  Jour- 
80-102.  Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  nal,  209.  M.  C.  Tyler,  Three  Men 
761.  Everest,  Poets  of  Conn.,  73-92.  of  Letters,  131-80.  Unitarian  Re- 
[French],  Biographia  Americana,  30-  view,  vi  (1876),  158-75.  U.  S. 
32.  Hill  Genealogy,  13,  17-23,  25-29.  National  Museum  Report  for  1897, 
Historical  Magazine,  i,  92-93,  375 ;  v,  ii,  281-83,  329-41.  Winsor,  The 
24,  89-90.  Jefferson,  Works,  ed.  Westward  Movement,  311-14,  402-06. 


PHINEAS  BARTHOLOMEW,  the  third  son  and  sixth  child 
of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Bartholomew  (Yale  1731),  of  Har- 
winton,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  that 
town  on  May  2,  1754. 

He  studied  medicine,  and  settled  in  practice  in  Beth- 
lehem (then  part  of  Woodbury),  in  the  same  county. 
Here  he  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  David  Leavitt,  Jun- 
ior, who  bore  him  two  daughters  and  a  son,  and  died  in 
Bethlehem  on  February  5,  1813,  in  her  53d  year,  being 
then  deranged. 

Before  1795  he  is  said  to  have  removed  to  Greene 
County,  New  York,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson, 
where  he  died,  probably  in  1816.  His  death  is  said  to 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  17 

have  been  the  result  of  professional  devotion — from  con- 
ducting the  post-mortem  examination  of  one  of  the  vic- 
tims of  a  virulent  epidemic  which  had  baffled  the  physi- 
cians of  the  neighborhood/" 


AUTHORITIES. 
Bartholomew  Family,  91,  125.    Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  615. 


ABRAHAM  BISHOP,  the  eldest  son  of  Samuel  Bishop,  of 
New  Haven,  and  grandson  of  Deacon  Samuel  and  Abi- 
gail (Atwater)  Bishop,  of  the  same  town,  was  born  here 
on  February  5,  and  baptized  on  February  6,  1763.  His 
mother  was  Mehetabel,  second  daughter  of  Abraham  and 
Mehetabel  (Street)  Bassett,  of  New  Haven.  His  father 
was  a  distinguished  citizen  of  New  Haven,  and  much 
employed  in  public  office,  as  Deputy  in  the  General  Assem- 
bly, Town  Clerk,  and  Judge  of  the  County  and  Probate 
Courts. 

He  spent  a  short  time  after  graduation  in  Philadelphia 
as  a  clerk;  and  later  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  New  Haven  on  April  6,  1785. 

Early  in  1787  he  went  on  an  extended  European  tour, 
from  which  he  returned  in  October,  1788,  "full  of 
Improvement  and  Vanity,"  says  President  Stiles.  The 
anonymous  authors  of  The  Echo  (1807),  one  of  whom 
was  his  classmate  Barlow,  give  currency  to  an  absurd 
story  that  his  traveling  shoes  were  deposited  in  the  College 
Museum  as  a  trophy;  but  the  tone  of  President  Stiles's 
references  to  Mr.  Bishop  in  his  Diary  forbids  the  possi- 
bility of  his  connivance  in  any  such  exploit.  The  time 
spent  in  France  on  this  foreign  trip  seems  to  have  left  a 
permanent  mark  on  Mr.  Bishop's  character  in  the  unset- 
tlement  of  his  inherited  religious  views  and  the  develop- 
ment of  his  passion  for  democracy. 

Immediately  after  his  return  he  began  his  political  ca- 
reer by  opposing  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 


i8 

He  was  also  an  innovator  in  educational  plans,  and  in 
April,  1790,  was  employed  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Hopkins 
Grammar  School  in  New  Haven  to  open  an  academy  with 
some  new  features  under  their  auspices,  but  was  allowed 
to  resign  five  months  later;  and  he  subsequently  devoted 
himself  mainly  to  the  excitements  of  political  life. 

In  1791  he  was  living  temporarily  in  Boston,  and  con- 
tributed to  the  newspapers  there;  and  on  March  u,  1792, 
he  was  married  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Bass,  D.D.,  to  Nancy, 
only  daughter  of  the  rich  and  eccentric  "Lord"  Timothy 
Dexter,  of  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  and  his  wife, 
Elizabeth  (Lord,  Frothingham)  Dexter, — she  being  then 
in  her  i6th  year,  and  having  made  his  acquaintance  while 
at  boarding-school  in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire. 

The  rest  of  his  days  were  spent  in  New  Haven.  He 
was  much  in  public  life  and  an  active  politician,  and 
secured  an  appointment  as  Clerk  of  the  New  Haven 
County  Court  in  1795,  and  of  the  Probate  Court  in  the 
next  year.  He  also  secured  the  appointment  of  Clerk  of 
the  Superior  Court  of  the  County  at  its  establishment  in 
July,  1798,  but  held  it  only  for  two  years.  His  other  clerk- 
ships he  held  until  1801.  He  did  not  enjoy  any  legal  prac- 
tice of  moment. 

His  ability  as  a  writer  and  speaker  was  early  recog- 
nized, and  led  naturally  enough  to  his  appointment  as 
Orator  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  in  1800.  But 
the  managers  of  the  Society  were  scandalized,  just  before 
the  date  of  the  meeting,  by  receiving  from  Mr.  Bishop  a 
printed  copy  of  his  proposed  oration,  and  finding  that  it 
was  a.  violent  political  diatribe,  intended  to  affect  an 
impending  State  election.  There  was  just  time  to  insert 
in  the  public  prints  an  indignant  notification  of  the  cancel- 
ing of  his  appointment;  but  the  same  paper  contained  a 
notice  from  Mr.  Bishop  that  his  oration  would  be  deliv- 
ered independently,  and  would  be  on  sale  immediately. 

Party  feeling  ran  higher  and  higher,  and  Mr.  Bishop 
became  more  and  more  notorious  as  a  demagogue.  One 


Biographical  Sketches,  ijj8  19 

incidental  result  was  his  dismissal  from  the  clerkship  of 
the  Superior  Court,  on  account  of  political  activity. 

In  June,  1801,  his  father;,  then  in  his  78th  year,  was 
appointed  by  President  Jefferson  as  Collector  of  the  Port 
of  New  Haven,  and  the  circumstances  indicated  that  it  was 
expected  that  the  actual  work  of  the  office  should  be  done, 
and  its  emoluments  enjoyed,  by  the  son,  as  a  reward  for 
his  exertions  in  Jefferson's  behalf.  The  strong  feeling 
of  opposition  evoked  found  expression  in  a  Remonstrance 
addressed  to  the  President  by  the  New  Haven  merchants, 
to  which  he  made  a  reply,  on  July  12,  which  is  famous  as 
containing  the  defence  of  his  course  respecting  appoint- 
ments to  office. 

After  his  father's  death  (in  August,  1803),  Abraham 
Bishop  succeeded  him  in  the  office  of  Collector  and  his 
commission  was  periodically  renewed  until  the  accession 
of  President  Jackson  in  1829.  In  the  preceding  Presi- 
dential campaign  he  had  opposed  Jackson,  since  he  had 
by  this  time  adopted  protectionist  views;  and  he  voted 
henceforth  with  the  Whigs. 

With  the  attainment  of  a  lucrative  office  his  aggressive 
opposition  to  existing  conditions  abated,  and  his  voice  and 
pen  were  less  often  brought  into  public  use. 

His  marriage,  already  noticed,  was  an  unhappy  one,  and 
after  the  birth  of  one  daughter  (who  survived  her  par- 
ents) his  wife  returned  to  Newburyport,  and  he  secured 
a  divorce  for  desertion.  With  impaired  intellect  and  con- 
firmed habits  of  intoxication  she  was  an  object  of  con- 
stant care,  until  her  death  in  Newburyport,  on  September 
30,  1851,  at  the  age  of  75. 

He  next  married  (about  1802)  Betsey,  daughter  of 
William  and  Sarah  (Hotchkiss)  Law,  of  Cheshire,  Con- 
necticut, who  died  on  September  u,  1817,  in  her  39th 
year.  By  this  marriage  he  had  four  daughters  and  one 
son  (who  died  in  infancy). 

He  was  married  thirdly,  on  January  3,  1819,  by  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Merwin,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John 


20  Yale  College 

Nicoll,  of  New  Haven,  and  widow  of  John  H.  Lynde  (Yale 
1796),  of  New  Haven  (who  died  on  December  17,  1817). 
By  this  marriage  there  were  no  children.  She  survived 
Mr.  Bishop  and  died  in  New  Haven  on  October  10,  1863, 
in  her  83d  year. 

His  own  death  occurred  on  April  28,  1844,  in  New 
Haven,  in  his  82d  year. 

Professor  Jared  P.  Kirtland  (M.D.  Yale  1815),  a  polit- 
ical sympathizer,  describes  him  thus  (in  1874)  : — 

Mr.  Bishop  was  a  gentleman  in  his  manners,  of  extensive  knowl- 
edge, an  artful  and  shrewd  politician,  an  implacable  enemy,  a  firm 
and  enduring  friend,  and  an  active  and  useful  citizen. 

He  was  repeatedly  a  benefactor  to  the  College  Library 
by  the  gift  of  valuable  books,  and  in  1829  he  presented  to 
the  Corporation  for  the  use  of  the  Library  a  mahogany 
table  and  set  of  chairs  of  remarkable  beauty  and  interest. 

Two  portraits  of  Mr.  Bishop,  one  representing  him  in 
middle  life,  and  the  other  in  later  life,  are  preserved  in  the 
collections  of  the  New  Haven  Colony  Historical  Society. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  among  the  richest  citi- 
zens of  New  Haven,  his  estate  being  inventoried  at 
upwards  of  $126,000. 

He  published : 

1.  The  Triumph  of  Truth. — History  and  Visions  of  Clio.     By 
John  Paul  Martin,  A.  M.,  M.  S.  P.    Boston,  1791.    8°,  pp.  62. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.     Y.  C. 

This  rhapsodical  effort,  appearing  under  a  feigned  name,  pro- 
fesses to  be  in  the  interest  of  Christianity,  and  to  describe  the  spir- 
itual progress  of  a  friend  of  the  author  named  Clio. 

In  the  same  year  he  contributed  to  the  Boston  Argus  several 
articles  signed  by  the  name  used  in  this  pamphlet  or  by  its  initials. 

2.  Georgia  Speculation  Unveiled;    in  Two  Numbers.     Hartford, 
1797.    8°,  pp.  39. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  21 

3.  Georgia  Speculation  Unveiled,  Second  Part.     Containing  the 
Third  and  Fourth  Numbers;    with  a  Conclusion,  addressed  to  the 
Northern  Purchasers.     Hartford,  1798.    8°,  pp.  41-144- 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  Brit.  Mils,  C.  H.  S.  M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  H.  S. 
U.  S.  Y.  C. 

A  legal  arraignment  of  the  State  of  Georgia  for  fraud  in  dis- 
posing of  the  Indian  land  on  its  western  borders  to  Northern 
land  companies. 

4.  Connecticut  Republicanism. — An  Oration  on  the  Extent  and 
Power  of   Political  Delusion.     Delivered   in   New-Haven,   on   the 
Evening  preceding  the   Public   Commencement,   September,    1800. 
1800.    8°,  pp.  iv,  64,  xi. 

[B.  Publ.    J.  Carter  Brown  Libr.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 
The  same.     The  second  edition.     Newark,  1800.    8°,  pp.  71. 

[B.  Publ.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

This  edition  omits  from  the  title  the  first  two  words  of  the 
original  edition. 

The  same.  Philadelphia:  Printed  for  Matthew  Carey. — Nov. 
13,  1800.  8°,  pp.  80. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    J.  Carter  Brown  Libr.     Hcvrv. 

Y.  C. 
The  same.    Albany,  1801.    8°,  pp.  68,  xii. 

[B.  Publ.    N.  Y.  Publ.    U.  S. 

This  edition  includes  an  Appendix  with  Jefferson's  Inaugural 
Address. 

This  virulent  political  pamphlet,  designed,  it  was  believed,  as 
an  electioneering  document,  was  the  subject  of  two  anonymous 
answers  published  in  the  same  year :  A  Rod  for  the  Fool's  Back  (by 
Noah  Webster),  and  Three  Letters  to  Abraham  Bishop..  By 
Connecticutensis  (David  Daggett). 

Mr.  Bishop  tells  the  story  of  the  circumstances  attending  the 
delivery  of  this  Oration  and  its  consequences,  in  an  Appendix  to 
his  next  publication. 

5.  Oration  delivered  in  Wallingford,  on  the  nth  of  March  1801, 
before  the  Republicans  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  at  their  Gen- 
eral Thanksgiving,   for  the  election  of  Thomas  Jefferson  to  the 
Presidency  and  of  Aaron  Burr  to  the  Vice  Presidency.  .     New 
Haven,  1801.    8°,  pp.  112. 

[A.  A.  S.  A.  C.  A.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  C.  H.  S.  Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.  R.  I.  Hist,  Soc.  U.  S. 
U.  T.  S.  Y.  C. 


22  Yale  College 

The  same.     Bennington,  1801.    8°.  [Brit.  Mus. 

6.  Church  and  State,  a  Political  Union,  formed  by  the  enemies 
of  both.     Illustrated  by  Correspondencies  between  the  Rev.  Stan- 
ley Griswold,  and  the  Rev.  Dan  Huntington,  and  between  Col.  Eph- 
raim  Kirby,  and  the  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman.    1802.    8°,  pp.  60. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

In  this  anonymous  pamphlet  the  only  original  matter  is  The 
Editor's  Preface  of  4  pages,  and  4^/2  pages  in  the  Appendix;  but 
these  portions  are  distinctly  the  work  of  Mr.  Bishop,  and  are  to  a 
considerable  extent  repeated  in  the  next  publication,  to  which  his 
name  was  attached. 

7.  Proofs  of  a  Conspiracy,  against  Christianity,  and  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States ;  exhibited  in  several  views  of  the  Union 
of  Church  and  State  in  New-England.     Hartford,  1802.     8°,  pp. 
166. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.      C.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

In  this  volume  the  author  indulged  to  the  full  his  bent  for  impu- 
dent and  unscrupulous  personal  attack.  It  is  pungently  written, 
and  entertaining  in  its  scathing  dissection  of  his  contemporaries 
and  neighbors ;  but  hardly  to  be  trusted  for  candor  and  sobriety  of 
judgment. 

The  title  was  of  course  a  parody  of  Professor  Robison's  Proofs 
of  a  Conspiracy  against  all  the  Religions  and  Governments  of 
Europe,  carried  on  in  the  secret  Meetings  of  Freemasons,  Illuinin- 
ati,  etc. 

8.  Oration,  in  honor  of  the  election  of  President  Jefferson,  and 
the  peaceable  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  delivered  at  the  National 
Festival,  in  Hartford,  on  the  nth  of  May,  1804.  .      [New  Haven] 
1804.    8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Broivn  Univ.    C.  H.  S. 
Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  subjects  announced  in  the  title  are  but  slightly  treated,  and 
the  real  burden  of  the  performance  is  a  scathing  arraignment  of 
the  abuses  of  the  Connecticut  government  under  the  alliance  of 
Church  and  State. 

9.  Some   Remarks   and   Extracts,    in   reply   to    Mr.    Pickering's 
Letter,  on  the  subject  of  the  Embargo.    New  Haven.     [1808.]     8°, 
pp.  23.  [A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Y.  C. 

This  anonymous  pamphlet  is  very  different  in  tone  from  the 
author's  earlier  productions,  while  thoroughly  loyal  to  Republican 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  23 

principles  and  strenuous  in  its  defence  of  President  Jefferson's  pol- 
icy; it  was  appended  to  a  reprint  (New  Haven,  1808)  of  the  Hon. 
Timothy  Pickering's  Letter  to  Governor  Sullivan,  and  was  also 
published  separately. 

10.  Remarks  on  Dr.  Griffin's  Requisition  for  700,000  Ministers. 
New-Haven,  1824.    8°,  pp.  44. 

[A.  A.  S.    Brit.  Mus.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

A  republication  of  eleven  anonymous  articles  from  The  (Nezv- 
Haven}  Pilot,  of  May  to  August,  1824.  They  criticize  a  speech  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  D.  Griffin  (Yale  1790)  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Education  Society,  in  which  he  made  a  plea  for  the  evangelization 
of  the  world.  The  whole  forms  a  caustic  attack  on  the  policy  of 
foreign  missions. 

Mr.  Bishop  had  often  contributed  to  'The  Pilot,  and  was  intend- 
ing to  continue  the  present  series,  but  the  paper  came  to  a  sudden 
end  in  September,  1824,  by  the  death  of  the  publisher. 

11.  Farmington  Canal. — To  the  Citizens  of  New-Haven.     New- 
Haven,  1827.    8°,  pp.  14.  [Y.  C. 

The  first  four  pages  relate  to  the  route  of  the  Canal  through  New 
Haven ;  the  rest  of  the  pamphlet  relates  to  Wooster  Square,  which 
was  in  part  a  gift  to  the  city  from  Mr.  Bishop. 

He  was  also  by  common  report  understood  to  have  been  the 
author  of  the  following: — 

William  Judd's  Address  To  the  People  of  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut, on  the  subject  of  the  removal  of  himself  and  four  other 
Justices  from  Office,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  said  State,  at 
their  late  October  Session,  for  declaring  and  publishing  their 
Opinion  that  the  People  of  this  State  are  at  present  without  a 
Constitution  of  Civil  Government. .  .  Printed  for  the  General 
Committee  of  Republicans.  From  Sidney's  Press.  [New  Haven.] 
1804.  8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

Major  Judd  (Yale  1763)  was  ill  at  the  time  of  the  preparation  of 
this  pamphlet,  and  died  before  its  publication.  In  a  notice  on  the 
last  page  it  is  stated  that  he  furnished  his  friends  with  his  ideas  on 
this  subject,  which  they  reduced  to  writing.  The  pamphlet  is  a 
keen  presentation  of  what  was  then  called  the  Republican  view  of 
Connecticut  politics. 

Two  brief  and  unimportant  letters  of  his  to  President  Jefferson 
in  1808  are  printed  in  the  Papers  of  the  New  Haven  Colony  His- 
torical Society,  volume  i,  pp.  144-45. 


24  Yale  College 

Mr.  Bishop  was  also  in  his  earlier  years  a  frequent  contributor  to 
the  newspaper  press.  A  good  specimen  of  his  scathing  political 
letters  is  one  printed  in  the  short-lived  New  Haven  paper  called 
The  Sun  of  Liberty,  on  September  9,  1801,  in  answer  to  the  New- 
Haven  Remonstrance  against  his  father's  appointment  as  Collector. 
This  was  reprinted,  with  supplementary  cognate  matter,  in  a  pam- 
phlet published  in  1814,  with  the  title, 

Public  Documents.  No.  I. — New-Haven  Remonstrance. 
Together  with  an  Exposition  of  the  Remonstrants ;  or  A  Curi- 
osity for  the  Curious.  .  Printed  for  Peter  Porcupine,  on  the 
King's  Birth  Day.  1814.  12°,  pp.  24.  [Y.  C. 

He  was  also  the  author  of  a  Funeral  Address  included  (pp.  14- 
22)  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  City  of  New-Haven,  in  the  Removal 
of  Monuments  from  its  Ancient  Burying-Ground,  and  in  the  open- 
ing of  a  new  Ground  for  burial.  New-Haven,  January,  1822.  8°. 

[F.  C. 

Mr  Bishop  was  one  of  the  Committee  under  whose  auspices  these 
Proceedings  took  place  (on  June  28,  1821),  and  the  anonymous 
author  of  the  principal  address,  which  was  read  by  another  person. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Atwater,  Hist,  of  the  City  of  New  istrations  of  Washington  and  Adams, 

Haven,    158-59.     W.   Bentley,   Diary,  ii,  418-19.     5.  G.  Goodrich,  Recollec- 

i,  391.     Chapman,  Trowbridge  Fam-  tions  of  a  Lifetime,  i,  125.     Histori- 

ily>     50,     53.       Columbian     Register,  cal    Magazine,    2d    series,    iv,    25-28. 

March     14,     1835.       Conn.     Courant,  Kirtland,     Song    of     Jefferson     and 

Aug.  1 6,  1802.    Conn.  Journal,  Sept.  Liberty,    3,    8-9,    11-12.     McMaster, 

10,  1800.     Currier,  "Quid  Newbury,"  Hist,  of  the  People  of  the  U.  S.,  ii, 

575-76.      Dickerman   Genealogy,    160.  598-600.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 

The   Echo,   and   other   Poems,   5-19,  iii,    154,   331,   336,    339,   395.     Street 

319.     Gibbs,  Memoirs  of  the  Admin-  Genealogy,  30,  44,  76-77. 


SHUBAEL  BREED,  the  sixth  son  and  seventh  child  of 
Gershom  and  Dorothy  (McLaren)  Breed,  of  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Norwich  on  April  20,  1759.  An 
elder  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1768,  and  a  younger 
in  1781. 

The  most  of  his  life  was  spent  in  Norwich,  where  he 
was  engaged  in  mercantile  business. 

He  married  on  June  25,  1786,  Lydia,  youngest  child  of 
Jabez  and  Anna  (Lathrop)  Perkins,  of  Norwich. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  25 

She  bore  him  three  sons  and  five  daughters,  and  died 
on  April  15,  1861,  aged  93^  years. 

He  died  in  Norwich  on  February  24,  1840,  in  his  8ist 
year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Breed    Family    Record,    Nos.    185,       Perkins,  Old  Houses  of  Norwich,  pt. 
191.     Dwight  Family,  ii,   mo.     Per-       2,  554. 
kins    Family    of    Ipswich,    pt.    3,    43. 


AARON  BUELL,  the  second  child  and  eldest  son  of  Ben- 
jamin and  Sybil  Buell,  of  that  part  of  Hebron,  Connecti- 
cut, now  included  in  the  township  of  Andover,  and  a 
grandson  of  Benjamin  and  Hannah  (Hutchinson)  Buell, 
of  Killingworth,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Hebron  on 
July  14,  1757.  His  mother  was  the  only  daughter  of 
Captain  and  Deacon  William  and  Sybil  (Post)  Buell,  of 
that  part  of  Hebron  which  is  now  Marlborough;  and  he 
was  thus  a  half-brother  of  the  mother  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
William  Buell  Sprague  (Yale  1815). 

For  some  time  after  he  left  College  he  was  employed 
as  a  teacher,  and  in  1786  he  took  his  Master's  degree. 

About  1795  he  is  said  to  have  married  Beulah  Dorches- 
ter in  Torrington,  Connecticut. 

His  name  is  first  starred  in  the  Triennial  Catalogue  of 
graduates  issued  in  1835. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Welles,  Hist,  of  Buell  Family,  65,  121. 


BENJAMIN  CHAPLIN,  Junior,  the  only  son  of  Deacon 
Benjamin  Chaplin,  of  that  part  of  Mansfield,  Connecticut, 
which  is  now  Chaplin,  by  his  first  wife,  widow  Mary  Ross, 
a  daughter  of  Seth  Paine,  of  that  part  of  Pomfret  which 
afterwards  became  Brooklyn,  Connecticut,  was  born  in 
Mansfield  on  November  23,  1755. 


26  Yale  College 

In  College  he  was  thought  a  young  man  of  special  prom- 
ise, and  being  heir  to  a  large  estate,  much  was  expected 
of  him. 

He  settled  in  Mansfield,  and  first  married  Amanda 
Sarah,  eldest  daughter  of  Captain  Jabez  Huntington 
(Yale  1758),  of  Windham.  After  her  early  death  he  next 
married,  on  January  5,  1783,  Sarah,  eldest  child  of  the 
Hon.  Timothy  Edwards  (Princeton  College  1757)  and 
Rhoda  (Ogden)  Edwards,  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts, 
and  granddaughter  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 

He  died  on  March  30,  1789,  in  his  34th  year,  leaving 
one  daughter  and  three  sons.  The  youngest  son  was  grad- 
uated at  Yale  in  1808.  The  widow  next  married  Captain 
Daniel  Tyler  (Harv.  1771),  of  Brooklyn,  Connecticut,  who 
died  in  April,  1832.  She  survived  until  April  25,  1841 ; 
dying  in  her  8oth  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Dimock,    Mansfield    Records,    41,       ton   Family,    148.    Lamed,   Hist,   of 
221,  310.       Dwight  Family,   ii,    1040.       Windham  County,  ii,  246-47. 
Edwards    Genealogy,    22.      Hunting- 


EBENEZER  DAGGETT,  the  fourth  child  and  third  son  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Naphtali  Daggett  (Yale  1748),  Professor 
of  Divinity  in  Yale  College,  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Daggett, 
was  born  in  New  Haven  on  December  21,  1760.  An  elder 
brother  was  graduated  here  in  1775. 

In  July,  1780,  he  received  an  appointment  as  Ensign  in 
the  7th  Connecticut  Regiment,  and  in  the  next  year  par- 
ticipated in  the  Virginia  campaign  under  Lafayette 
against  Cornwallis. 

On  the  way  home  he  died  of  small-pox  at  the  Head 
of  Elk  River,  Cecil  County,  in  the  northeastern  corner 
of  Maryland,  on  November  20,  1781,  aged  nearly  21  years. 
The  news  did  not  reach  his  family  until  nearly  a  month 
later.  

AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Journal,  Dec.  20,  1781.    Dog-       Yale  in  the  Revolution,  340. 
gett-Daggett  Family,   119.     Johnston, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  27 

JOHN  ALEXIS  DIBBLE,  the  eldest  child  of  John  Dibble 
(Yale  1758),  was  probably  born  in  that  part  of  Milford, 
Connecticut,  which  is  now  Woodbridge. 

He  studied  law  and  at  first  settled  in  New  Haven,  but 
after  a  short  time  the  condition  of  his  health  obliged  him 
to  spend  a  series  of  years  in  South  Carolina. 

Ultimately  he  returned  to  New  Haven,  and  was  engaged 
in  business  here  at  the  time  of  his  sudden  death.  On  the 
evening  of  June  27,  1796,  as  he  was  going  to  bed  (at  the 
tavern  where  he  lodged)  without  a  light,  he  opened  a 
wrong  door,  and  fell  down  the  cellar  stairs,  fracturing  his 
skull  so  that  he  died  the  next  morning. 

He  was  about  37  years  of  age,  and  unmarried. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Conn.  Journal,  June  29,  1796.     Conn.  Magazine,  x,  734. 


OBADIAH  DICKINSON,  the  only  son  of  Obadiah  Dick- 
inson, of  Northfield,  Massachusetts,  by  his  second  wife 
Martha,  and  a  grandson  of  Deacon  Nathaniel  and  Han- 
nah (White)  Dickinson,  was  born  in  Northfield  on  August 

31,  1757- 

He  settled  in  his  native  township,  and  became  one  of 
the  leading  citizens,  representing  the  town  in  the  General 
Court  in  1792  and  1794. 

He  married  on  June  28,  1787,  Sophia,  eldest  child  of 
Shammah  and  Anna  (Mattoon)  Pomeroy,  of  Northfield, 
and  niece  of  Dr.  Josiah  Pomeroy  (Yale  1762).  She 
bore  him  six  daughters  and  six  sons,  and  died  on  January 

14,  1843,  at  tne  a£e  °f  77- 

He  survived  his  wife,  and  died  in  Northfield  on  March 
9,  1844,  in  his  87th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Temple     and     Sheldon,    Hist,     of       431,  519. 
Northfield,  172,  338,  352-54.  35$  364, 


28  Yale  College 

HENRY  ELY  was  born  in  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts, 
on  May  15,  1755,  the  youngest  son  of  Jonathan  Ely,  of 
Wilbraham,  and  grandson  of  Deacon  Jonathan  and  Lydia 
(Burt)  Ely,  of  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts.  His  mother 
was  Esther,  the  eldest  child  of  Henry  Chapin,  Junior,  of 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  by  his  second  wife,  Esther 
Bliss. 

On  leaving  College  he  studied  theology,  and  after  longer 
or  shorter  occupation  in  various  pulpits  he  was  engaged 
to  preach  in  the  parish  of  North  Killingworth,  now  the 
town  of  Killingworth,  Connecticut,  during  the  last  illness 
of  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  William  Seward  (Yale  1734),  in 
January,  1782. 

Mr.  Seward  died  on  February  5,  and  Mr.  Ely  continued 
to  supply  the  pulpit  until  July  9,  when  he  was  invited  to 
settle  as  pastor.  Arrangements  about  the  salary  to  be 
offered  him  were  not  completed  until  September  2,  when 
£90  a  year  was  voted.  He  accepted  the  call,  and  was 
ordained  on  September  25. 

For  eighteen  years  his  pastorate  was  pleasant,  and  the 
people  united  and  happy.  No  sign  of  dissatisfaction 
appears  until  a  Society  meeting  in  November,  1800,  when 
the  usual  motion  to  grant  to  the  minister  a  salary  for  the 
ensuing  year,  was  negatived  by  a  large  majority.  He 
was  regularly  dismissed  three  months  later,  on  February 
12,  1801,  and  returned  at  once  to  his  native  place. 

Later  in  the  same  year  he  removed  to  Rome,  N.  Y.,  and 
found  employment  in  preaching  in  that  vicinity. 

In  1805  ne  went  to  what  was  then  known  as  "New  Con- 
necticut/' and  settled  in  the  present  township  of  Stow,  on 
the  eastern  border  of  Summit  County,  Ohio.  He  preached 
gratuitously  in  a  log  schoolhouse  to  the  settlers  in  that 
vicinity  until  after  the  opening  of  the  war  with  Great 
Britain,  when  he  was  driven  from  his  home  by  the  Indians. 
He  then  returned  to  New  York  State,  and  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  days  with  his  children,  while  also  con- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  29 

tinuing  to  preach  until  the  infirmities  of  age  pressed  too 
heavily.  He  died  at  the  house  of  his  youngest  daughter, 
in  Watertown,  Jefferson  County,  New  York,  on  August 
2,  1835,  in  his  8ist  year. 

He  married,  on  September  27,  1781,  Achsah  Bliss,  of 
Wilbraham,  the  eldest  child  of  Oliver  and  Catharine 
(Brewer)  Bliss,  and  a  second  cousin  of  his  father.  She 
bore  him  five  daughters  and  three  sons,  and  died  on  June 
19,  1837,  in  her  78th  year. 

He  published: 

A  sermon  [from  Eccl.  vi,  12]  delivered  November  2Oth,  at  the 
funeral  of  Mr.  Reuben  Wilcox,  a  student  in  the  junior  class,  in 
Yale-College;  and  son  of  Mr.  Elijah  Wilcox,  of  Killingworth. 
Who  died  November  18,  A.  D.  1788,  in  the  24th  year  of  his  age. . 
Norwich.  16°,  pp.  20.  [Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bliss     Genealogy,     79.       Nathaniel       Hist.  Discourse  at  Killingworth,   19- 
Ely's    Descendants,    22,    43.     Miller,       21. 


EDMUND  FOSTER,,  the  youngest  son  of  Captain  Abra- 
ham Foster,  of  Reading,  Middlesex  County,  Massachu- 
setts, and  grandson  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Roberts)  Fos- 
ter, was  born  in  Reading  on  April  18,  1752.  His  mother 
was  Susanna,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Susanna 
Hartshorne,  of  Reading. 

His  father  died  the  year  after  his  birth,  and  his  mother 
a  few  years  later:  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  earn  the 
means  for  a  College  course.  In  April,  1775,  on  the  Lex- 
ington alarm,  he  joined  a  company  of  minute  men,  and 
remained  in  arms  for  eleven  days.  He  probably  did  not 
come  to  Yale  until  after  this  experience. 

He  studied  for  the  ministry,  and  on  January  17,  1781, 
was  ordained  as  colleague  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Littleton  in  his  native  county.  His  settlement 
was  not  without  opposition, — partly  on  account  of  a  move- 


30  Yale  College 

ment  for  a  division  of  the  parish,  and  partly  on  account  of 
a  scarcity  of  money  caused  by  the  times. 

The  senior  pastor,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Rogers  (Harvard 
1725),  died  in  1782,  and  Mr.  Foster  continued  in  office 
until  his  own  death,  which  occurred  in  Littleton,  on  March 
28,  1826,  in  his  74th  year. 

He  was  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  town,  was  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  1809  to 
1812,  and  .then  of  the  State  Senate  in  1813  and  1814. 

He  was  also  a  delegate  to  the  Massachusetts  Constitu- 
tional Convention  in  1820. 

He  married,  on  October  30,  1783,  Phebe,  sixth  child 
and  fourth  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William  Lawrence  (Har- 
vard 1743)  and  Love  (Adams)  Lawrence,  of  Lincoln,  in 
his  native  county.  She  bore  him  seven  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters, and  died  in  Littleton  on  July  14,  1812,  aged  nearly 
50  years.  One  daughter  married  her  father's  successor 
in  the  pulpit.  The  youngest  son  was  a  Member  of  Con- 
gress from  New  York  State. 

His  second  wife,  Joanna,  survived  him. 

He  published: 

1.  The  Ministry  of  Reconciliation  illustrated. — A  Sermon  [from 
2  Cor.  v,  20],  preached  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan 
Osgood,..in  Gardner,   October   19,    1791.     Worcester,    1792.     8°, 
pp.  40. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.     U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-32  of  the  pamphlet.  An  anonymous 
Letter  to  the  author  appeared  in  1794,  animadverting  on  his  doc- 
trine of  decrees. 

2.  A  Sermon   [from  Job  i,  20-22],  occasioned  by  the  death  of 
Josiah  Hartweel  [sic]  ;  who  was  drowned  on  Friday,  May  20,  1791, 
in  the  I5th  year  of  his  age.     Preached  at  Littleton  the  Sabbath 
following.    Boston,  1793.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 

3.  Husbandry,  an  Ancient,  Honourable  and  Useful  Employment. 
— An  Oration,  delivered  before  the  Western  Society  of  Middlesex 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  31 

Husbandmen,  at  their  semi-annual  meeting  at  Littleton,  on  Monday, 
October  28,  1799.    Amherst,  N.  H.,  1800.    8°,  pp.  15. 

[Bowdoin  Coll.    M.  H.  S.    U.  S. 

4.  An  Oration,  pronounced  at"Westford,  on  the  Anniversary  of 
American  Independence,  July  4,  1804.    Boston,  1804.    8°,  pp.  25. 

[Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 

5.  An  Oration  pronounced  at  Littleton,  July  4,   1806...     Cam- 
bridge, 1806.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv. 

6.  A  Discourse  [from  Judges  vii,  16-18]  pronounced  before  the 
Middlesex  Martial   Band  and  a  number  of  military   officers  and 
soldiers  in  uniform  at  Westford,  March  3,  1808.    Cambridge,  1808. 
8°,  pp.  15. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.      Brown  Univ.      Harv. 

This  discourse  is  "on  the  invention  of  instrumental  music;  on 
the  improvements  made  in  it;  on  its  powerful  effects;  and  on  its 
various  uses  and  applications." 

7.  A  Sermon   [from  Ps.  ii,   n],  preached  at  Littleton,  Massa- 
chusetts, on  the  3Oth  of  November,  1809;  being  the  Day  of  Annual 
Thanksgiving.    Amherst,  N.  H.,  1810.    8°,  pp.  22.    [Harv.    U.  S. 

The  sermon  shows  a  strong  political  bias. 

8.  A   Sermon    [from    i    Cor.   xii,    18-21],   delivered  before   His 
Excellency    the    Governor,,  .and    the    Legislature    of    Massachu- 
setts, May  27,  1812,  being  the  Day  of  Annual  Election.     Boston, 

1812.  8°,  pp.  22. 

[A.  A.  S.  A.  C.  A.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Bowdoin  Coll. 
Brit.  Mus.  Broivn  Univ.  Harv.  M.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

9.  A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  cxii,  1-6],  preached  at  Littleton,  on  the 
Death  of  Deacon  Daniel  Kimball,  who  departed  this  life  May  24, 

1813,  aged  Ixii.    Boston.    8°,  pp.  16.  [A.  A.  S.    Harv. 

10.  A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  xlvi,  7-11],  preached  at  Littleton,  April 
I3th,  1815 ;   being  the  day  of  National  Thanksgiving,  for  the  Res- 
toration of  Peace  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  Great 
Britain.    Boston,  1815.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  A.  S.    Brit.  Mus.    Broivn  Univ. 

11.  The  Works  of  God  declared  by  one  generation  to  another. — 
A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  cxlv,  4],  preached  at  Littleton,  Dec.  4,  1815. 


32  Yale  College 

On  the  completion  of  a  Century  from  the  Incorporation  of  that 
Town.    Concord  [1816].    8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ. 
Harv.    M.  H.  S.    U.  S. 

The  author  mentions  that  through  the  whole  of  his  ministry  the 
church  has  never  been  specially  called  together  on  any  matter  or 
concern,  except  for  the  choice  of  deacons.  He  also  appeals  for 
toleration  in  the  treatment  of  those  who  do  not  accept  (as  he  does) 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

12.  A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  cxix,  71]  on  the  death  of  Capt.  Jacob 
Priest, ..  preached    at    Littleton,    Feb.    15,    1824.      Concord,    1824. 
8°,  pp.  14.  [Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ. 

13.  A  Sermon   [from  Gen.  xxv,  8],  on  the  Death  of  Mr.  John 
Russell,  who  departed  this  life  November  23,  1824,  aged  97  years, 
and  7  months. — Preached   at   Littleton,   Dec.   5,    1824.     Concord, 
1824.    8°,  pp.  15.  [A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Quart.  Register,  xi,  253,  274.  Littleton  Hist.  Society's  Proceedings, 

Bond,     Hist,     of     Watertown,     835.  i,    132.      Mass.    Soldiers   and   Sailors 

Drake,   Hist,    of   Middlesex   County,  of   the  Revolution,   v,   896.      Pierce, 

Mass.,    ii,    49-50.      Eaton,    Hist,    of  Foster   Genealogy,   710,   727.      Shat- 

Reading,  80.      Genealogy  of   Family  tuck,  Hist,  of  Concord,  Mass.,  305. 
of  John  Lawrence  (1869),  55,  94-95. 


JONATHAN  FRISBIE,  son  of  Noah  and  Margery  (Post) 
Frisbie,  was  born  in  Bethlehem  parish,  in  Woodbury, 
Connecticut,  on  November  10,  1761.  He  was  prepared 
for  College  by  the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins,  of  Norfolk. 

He  settled  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  as  a  lawyer,  and 
died  there  in  1804,  in  his  57th  year. 

His  widow,  Abigail,  died  in  Norwich,  after  a  long  and 
severe  illness,  in  1807,  aged  46  years. 

They  left  no  children,  and  Mrs.  Frisbie's  tombstone  was 
erected  by  her  nephew,  Charles  F.  Harrington. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  iii,  54. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  33 

EZEKIEL  GILBERT,  son  of  Jonathan  and  Prudence  (Har- 
ris) Gilbert,  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  was  born  on 
March  25,  1756. 

He  settled  in  Hudson,  New  York  (of  which  city  he  was 
one  of  the  founders),  and  became  distinguished  as  a 
practicing  lawyer. 

He  was  a  Member  of  the  New  York  Assembly  for  three 
sessions,  in  1789-90,  1800,  and  1801,  and  represented  his 
district  in  Congress  from  December,  1793,  to  March, 
1797.  He  was  also  Clerk  of  Columbia  County  from 
March,  1813,  to  March,  1815.  In  the  midst  of  a  brilliant 
and  promising  career  he  was  seized  with  a  paralysis  of 
the  lower  limbs;  for  more  than  thirty  years  the  disease 
gradually  increased  upon  him,  and  rendered  him  phys- 
ically helpless.  In  his  later  life  he  lost  his  property,  but 
he  bore  his  afflictions  with  calmness,  and  died  in  Hudson 
on  July  17,  1841,  in  his  86th  year. 

He  married  and  had  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Amer.  Almanac  for  1842,  306.     Atkins,  Hist,  of  Middlefield,  165. 


THOMAS  GOLD,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Rev.  Hezekiah 
Gold  (Yale  1751)'  and  Sarah  (Sedgwick)  Gold,  was  born 
in  Cornwall,  Connecticut,  on  November  23,  1759.  A 
brother  was  graduated  here  in  1786. 

He  settled  in  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  in  the  practice 
of  the  law  in  1782,  and  acquired  wealth  and  honorable 
standing.  As  early  as  the  time  of  Shays'  Rebellion  he 
had  attained  prominence  in  the  community,  and  was  one 
of  the  delegates  to  the  County  Convention  to  consider 
reformatory  measures.  Later  he  was  active  as  a  Feder- 
alist, and  in  the  promotion  of  local  business  enterprise. 

He  died  in  Pittsfield  on  February  13,  1827,  in  his  68th 
year. 

3 


34  Yale  College 

He  married  about  1785  Martha,  third  daughter  of  Dr. 
Perez  Marsh  (Harvard  1748  and  honorary  Yale  1754) 
and  Sarah  (Williams)  Marsh,  of  Dalton,  the  next  town 
to  the  eastward,  and  had  by  her  six  daughters  and  four 
sons. 

The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in 
1806,  and  became  a  lawyer  in  Pittsfield. 

The  eldest  daughter  married  the  Hon.  Nathan  Apple- 
ton,  of  Boston,  and  their  youngest  child  married  the  poet 
Longfellow. 

After  Mr.  Gold's  death,  his  house  was  occupied  as  a 
summer  residence  by  Mr.  Appleton,  and  Mr.  Longfellow 
found  in  it  the  subject  for  his  poem,  The  Old  Clock  on 
the  Stairs. 

He  published: 

1.  Address,  delivered  before  the  Berkshire  Association  for  the 
promotion  of  Agriculture  and  Manufactures,  at  Pittsfield,  Oct.  3d, 
1816...     Pittsfield.    8°,  pp.  24. 

[Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  Address  occupies  pp.  3-19. 

2.  Address  delivered  before  the  Berkshire  Association,  for  the 
Promotion   of   Agriculture  and   Manufactures,   at   Pittsfield,   Oct. 
2d,  1817.     Pittsfield.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

^% 

Gold,   Hist,    of    Cornwall,   290-92.       field,  i,  400;   ii,  6,  195,  247-49,  265-66, 
Marsh  Family  of  Hartford,  407,  417-       379,  477,  480,  508-09,  687. 
18.    /.  E.  A.  Smith,  Hist,  of  Pitts- 


JOHN  GOODRICH,  of  Glastonbury,  Connecticut,  was  first 
a  member  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  did  not  enter  Yale 
until  July  9 — two  months  before  graduation.  He  was 
the  eldest  child  of  John  Goodrich,  and  grandson  of  David 
and  Sarah  (Edwards)  Goodrich,  of  Glastonbury,  where 
he  was  born  on  July  3,  1753.  His  mother  \vas  Prudence, 
second  daughter  of  Colonel  Elizur  and  Ruth  (Wright) 
Talcott,  of  Glastonbury. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  35 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  after  graduation,  and  here 
married  on  July  10,  1779,  Eunice,  the  eldest  child  of 
Andrew  and  Sarah  (Nichols)  Thompson,  of  Stratford, 
Connecticut,  and  widow  of  Dr.  David  Atwater,  a  noted 
apothecary  of  New  Haven,  who  was  killed  by  the  British 
at  Danbury  in  April,  1777.  One  of  her  sons  by  her  first 
marriage  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1797. 

In  1784  he  became  a  member  of  the  County  Medical 
Society,  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  he  ever  engaged  in 
practice.  In  1786  and  for  a  few  years  later  he  kept  a 
drug-store  in  his  dwelling-house  on  Chapel  Street,  on  the 
site  now  occupied  by  the  Quinnipiack  Club.  He  seems  also 
to  have  kept  an  inn,  to  have  had  an  appointment  as  con- 
stable, and  by  the  year  1793  to  have  become  a  lawyer. 

He  died  in  New  Haven  on  January  16,  1800,  in  his  47th 
year.  His  estate  proved  to  be  insolvent. 

His  children  were  three  daughters  and  four  sons.  Only 
two  of  the  daughters  and  the  eldest  son  arrived  at  matur- 
ity. A  granddaughter  married  the  Rev.  L.  Smith  Hobart 
(Yale  1837). 

He  published: 

The  Civil  and  Executive  Officers'  Assistant.  .  With  the  power 
and  duty  of  Justices  of  the  Peace  as  contained  in  the  laws  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut.  .  New-Haven,  1793.  8°,  pp.  xii,  305. 

[Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  PubL  Libr. 

The  same.  The  Second  Edition,  revised,  corrected,  and  con- 
siderably enlarged.  Hartford,  1798.  12°,  PP-  xii,  239.  [Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Public  Records,  ii,  486.  ii,  309-11.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
Goodrich  Family,  62,  106.  New  Diary,  ii,  282 ;  iii,  517.  Talcott  Pedi- 
Haven  Colony  Hist.  Society's  Papers,  gree,  233. 


FREDERICK  WILLIAM  HOTCHKISS,  the  fifth  of  seven 
children  of  John  Hotchkiss  (Yale  1748)  and  Susanna 
(Jones)  Hotchkiss,  was  born  in  New  Haven  on  October 
30,  1762,  and  was  baptized  on  the  following  day.  An 
elder  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1774. 


36  Yale  College 

During  the  invasion  of  New  Haven  by  the  British  on 
July  4,  1779,  he  acted  as  an  aid  to  the  officer  who  com- 
manded the  force  raised  in  resistance.  In  this  conflict 
his  father  and  two  of  his  uncles  were  slain. 

For  four  years  after  graduation  he  taught  school, — 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  time  in  Wethersfield, 
Connecticut.  Meantime  he  studied  theology,  and  he  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South  Association  of 
Ministers  in  October,  1782. 

Early  in  the  following  month  he  began  to  supply  the 
pulpit  in  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  where  the  Rev.  William 
Hart  (Yale  1732)  had  been  for  six  months  disabled  from 
preaching.  He  soon  received  a  unanimous  invitation  to 
settle  as  colleague-pastor,  but  owing  to  his  consciousness 
of  inexperience  he  deferred  compliance  with  the  repeated 
requests  of  this  people  for  several  months,  and  was  finally 
ordained  on  September  24,  1783,  over  a  church  of  69 
members. 

The  senior  pastor  died  in  July,  1784,  and  Mr.  Hotch- 
kiss  remained  in  sole  charge  of  the  society  until  June, 
1838,  when  in  response  to  his  own  request  a  colleague  was 
settled.  During  this  ministry  over  six  hundred  persons 
had  been  admitted  to  the  church.  He  continued  in  office 
until  his  death,  in  Saybrook,  after  three  days'  illness,  on 
March  31,  1844,  in  his  82d  year. 

He  was  married,  on  August  29,  1790,  by  the  Rev. 
Richard  Ely,  of  Westbrook,  to  Amelia  Hart,  the  youngest 
child  of  his  predecessor  in  office,  who  died  on  August  8, 
1845,  aged  84^/2  years.  Their  children  were  two  daugh- 
ters, who  survived  them. 

Father  Hotchkiss,  as  he  was  called,  was  an  ideally  faith- 
ful pastor,  and  an  affectionate,  fervent  preacher  of  prac- 
tical righteousness.  His  voice  was  of  almost  phenomenal 
strength.  Besides  his  other  labors,  for  a  number  of  years 
he  taught  a  private  school  in  his  own  house,  at  which 
some  thirty  young  men  were  fitted  for  College. 

A  lithograph  from  his  portrait  is  prefixed  to  the  sermon 
published  after  his  death. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  37 

He  published: 

1.  On    National    Greatness. — A    Thanksgiving    Sermon     [from 
Deut.  iv,  7-9],  delivered  to  the  FJrst  Society  in  Say-Brook,  Novem- 
ber 29th,  1792.    New-Haven,  1793.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[Brit.  Miis.     Harv.     N.  Hampshire  Hist.  Soc.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

2.  On  a  merciful  disposition  illustrated  in  the  character  of  the 
good   Samaritan. — A   Discourse    [from   Luke  x,  37]    preached   at 
Saybrook,  Nov.  3,  1793,  Occasioned  by  the  Death  of  Mrs.  Deborah 
Sanford.  .    Norwich,  1795.    8°,  pp.  27.  [A.  A.  S.      A.  C.  A. 

3.  An  Oration  delivered  at  Saybrook  on  Saturday,  February  22(1, 
1800;   the  day  set  apart  .  .   for  the  people  of  the  United  States  to 
testify  their  grief  for  the  death  of  General  George  Washington.  . 
New-London,  1800.    8°,  pp.  32.  [U.  S.     Y.  C. 

4.  A  Sermon  [from  i  Cor.  xiii,  4-5],  delivered  at  the  Installation 
of   Pythagoras   Lodge,   of   Free   Masons ;    in   Lyme,   Connecticut, 
October  7th,  1800.    New-London,  1800.    8°,  pp.  35. 

[C.  H.  S.  (incomplete).     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  author   speaks   as  an   outsider,   who   from   distrust   of   the 
masonic  order  has  come  to  believe  otherwise. 

5.  The  Cross  of  Christ,  the  Christian's  Glory.    A  Sermon  [from 
Gal.  vi,  14],  preached  at  Guilford,  November  8th,  1801.     Middle- 
town,  1802.    8°,  pp.  40.  [C.  H.  S. 

6.  On  the  faithful  improvement  of  our  intrustments.    A  Sermon 
[from   Luke  xix,    13],  preached   in   Saybrook    (Second   Society), 
October  i8th,  1801 :    with  particular  reference  to  the  death  of  Mr. 
Uriah  Hayden,  2d.  .     Middletown,  1802.    8°,  pp.  39. 

[A.  C.  A.    C.  H.  S. 

7.  The  Christian  Minister  Studying  to  know  Christ. — A  Sermon 
[from  Phil,  iii,  7-9],  preached  at  the  interment  of  Rev.  Richard 
Ely.  .     New-Haven,  1814.     8°,  pp.  22. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     Y.  C. 

The  subject  of  this  discourse  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in 
the  Class  of  1754. 

8.  Solomon  and  Hiram:    or,  Jew  and  Gentile  building  the  Tem- 
ple of  the  latter:day  glory:    a   Sermon    [from   i    Kings   v,    18], 
preached  in  Haddam,  at  the  Celebration  of  the  Festival  of  St.  John, 
June  25,  1821.    Middletown,  1821.    8°,  pp.  24.       [A.  A.  S.    Y.  C. 


38  Yale  College 

9.  A  Retrospect  on  the  Ministry  and  Church  of  Saybrook. — A 
Half  Century  Sermon  [from  2  Tim.  iv,  7],  preached  on  Lord's  Day, 
September  22,  1833.    New  Haven,  1833.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  C.  A.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     C.  PL  S.       Harv. 
L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.      N.  Y.  H.  S.      Y.  C. 

The  same.    Hartford,  1838.    8°,.  pp.  23.  [Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 

This  edition  (with  a  new  title-page)  was  issued  to  accompany 
the  next  pamphlet. 

10.  A  Valedictory  Address  before  the  First  Church  and  Congre- 
gation in  Saybrook,  January  7th,  1838,  in  view  of  a  Collegiate  Min- 
istry;   in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  pastoral  service.     Hartford,  1838. 
8°,  pp.  16.        [A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  following  was  printed  after  his  death: — 

11.  Contemplations  of  an  aged  Pastor  on  completing  the  six- 
tieth Year  of  his  Ministry — A  Sermon  [from  Titus  ii,  1-2]  preached 
at  Saybrook,  Conn.,   Sept.  24,   1843,  by  the  late  Rev.   Frederick 
Wm.  Hotchkiss   .  .  :  to  which  is  appended  A  Brief  Notice  of  his 
Life,  Death,  and  General  Character;   by  Rev.  E.  B.  Crane,  Junior 
Pastor.    New  York,  1844.    8°,  pp.  40  -f-  portrait.     [Harv.    Y.  C. 

He  also  printed,  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine,  for 
October,  1810  (vol.  3,  New  Series),  pp.  385-88,  A  Narrative  of 
the  Revival  of  Religion  in  Saybrook  in  1809. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,      of   the   Amer.    Pulpit,   i,   262.    Pres. 
58.     Hart   Family,   377,  406.     John-      Stiles,   Literary   Diary,    ii,    518;     iii, 
ston,    Yale    in    the    Revolution,    340.       329,   494-95.    250th  Anniversary,   ist 
McCall,  Centennial  Sermon  at  Say-       Church,  Old  Saybrook,  44-56,  127. 
brook,    1876,   5-8.     Sprague,  Annals 


OBADIAH  HOTCHKISS,,  the  son  of  Obadiah  Hotchkiss,  a 
blacksmith,  of  New  Haven,  was  born  on  September  4, 
1762,  and  was  baptized  the  following  day.  His  mother 
was  Mercy,  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Martha  (Elcock)  Per- 
kins, of  New  Haven. 

He  married  on  February  7,  1782,  Hannah,  daughter  of 
Captain  Nathaniel  S.  and  Mary  (Jones)  Lewis,  of  Strat- 
ford, Connecticut,  and  subsequently  began  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  East  Haven.  About  the  year  1790  he  returned 
to  his  native  place,  and  some  two  years  later  he  added  to 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  39 

his  professional  work  the  business  of  a  druggist,  on  the 
south  side  of  Chapel,  between  Church  and  Orange  streets. 
After  some  years  a  brother-in-law  was  associated  with 
him  in  this  business,  under  the  firm-name  of  Hotchkiss  & 
Lewis.  In  1806  Mr.  Lewis  retired  from  the  firm,  and  his 
place  was  taken  by  the  doctor's  son,  who  assumed  the  main 
charge  of  the  business,  from  which  his  father  retired 
entirely  in  1819. 

Dr.  Hotchkiss  sustained  a  good  reputation  as  a  com- 
petent and  faithful  family  physician.  In  the  last  years 
of  his  life  he  did  not  seek  professional  business. 

In  politics  he  took  the  Democratic  side,  but  was  not  a 
violent  partisan.  In  August,  1804,  President  Jefferson 
appointed  him  a  commissioner  in  bankruptcy.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  from  1805 
to  1808,  and  again  from  1819  to  1822,  and  in  1825  was 
made  a  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

.  During  most  of  his  life  he  was  not  supposed  to  be  in 
sympathy  with  evangelical  religion,  but  he  finally  united 
with  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven,  and  became  a 
zealous  Christian. 

He  was  social  in  his  habits,  genial,  and  fond  of  humor. 

He  died  in  New  Haven  of  a  dropsical  affection  on  Jan- 
uary 28,  1832,  in  his  /oth  year.  His  wife  died  two  months 
before  him,  on  November  22,  1831,  aged  75  years.  Their 
children  were  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  but  only  the 
younger  son  lived  to  grow  up. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Lewisiana,  viii,  5,  61.     New  Haven      307-09;    iii,  535.    Tuttle  Family,  103. 
Colony    Hist.     Society's    Papers,    ii, 


STEPHEN  JACOB  entered  College  from  Sheffield,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  he  was  born  on  December  7,  1755,  being 
the  third  son  of  Richard  and  Thankful  Jacob  of  that  town. 
He  had  spent  the  earlier  part  of  the  course  in  Dartmouth 
College. 


4o  Yale  College 

Before  he  took  his  first  degree  his  family  seems  to  have 
removed  to  Vermont,  as  he  took  part  in  the  first  anniver- 
sary celebration  of  the  battle  of  Bennington,  in  August, 
1778. 

A  little  later  he  settled  in  Windsor,  Vermont,  on  the 
Connecticut  River,  where  he  practiced  law  and  gained  an 
assured  position.  In  politics  he  was  a  Federalist. 

He  represented  Windsor  in  1781,  1788,  1789,  and  1794, 
in  the  General  Assembly ;  was  one  of  the  first  Council  of 
Censors  in  1785;  State's  Attorney  in  1786;  a  Commis- 
sioner on  the  New  York  boundary  in  1790;  United  States 
District  Attorney  in  1791 ;  a  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1793;  and  a  State  Councillor  from 
October,  1796,  to  October,  1801,  when  he  resigned  to 
accept  the  office  of  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which 
he  held  for  two  years. 

In  1802  he  was  elected  a  Trustee  of  Dartmouth  College, 
and  held  that  office  until  his  death. 

He  died  in  Windsor  on  January  27,  1817,  in  his  62d 
year. 

He  married  on  November  3,  1779,  Pamela  Farrand,  of 
Canaan,  Connecticut,  sister  of  Daniel  Farrand  (Yale 

1781). 

They  had   three   daughters,   who   are   remembered   as 
women  of  rare  accomplishments  and  intellectual  force. 
He  published: 

A  Poetical  Essay,  delivered  at  Bennington,  on  the  Anniversary 
of  the  i6th  of  August,  1777.  Hartford,  1779.  8°,  pp.  8. 

|P  [B.  Publ.     U.  S. 

This  is  reprinted,  together  with  the  oration  on  the  same  occasion 
by  his  classmate,  Noah  Smith  (which  was  originally  published  with 
it),  in  volume  I  of  the  Collections  of  the  Vermont  Historical  Soci- 
ety, Montpelier,  1870. 

He  was  also  the  principal  author  of  the  following: — Observa- 
tions on  Facts,  Vindicating  the  Right  of  Dartmouth  College  and 
Moor's  Charity  School  to  the  Grant  made  by  the  Legislature  of 
Vermont,  in  June,  1785.  Windsor,  1807.  8°,  pp.  16. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  41 

Signed  by  John  Wheelock,  President  of  Dartmouth  College,  and 
himself,  as  Agents  of  the  Trustees.  [U.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,     Early     Conn.     Marriages,  Governor  and   Council   of  Vermont, 

vii,   72.       G.   A.   Davis,   MS.    Letter,  iv,     106.      Vermont    Hist.     Society's 

March  26,  1904.     Hall,  Hist,  of  East-  Collections,  i,  253-54,  263-70. 
ern  Vermont,  548,  550.     Records  of 


WILLIAM  JOHNSON,  the  youngest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Stephen  Johnson  (Yale  1743),  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  by 
his  first  wife,  Elizabeth  Diodate,  was  born  in  Lyme  on 
June  29,  1757. 

He  died  at  his  home -in  Lyme  on  January  28,  1779,  aged 
21^/2  years.  He  was  unmarried. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Salisbury,  Family  Histories,  ii,  350.     Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  ii,  738. 


DAVID  JUDSON,  the  eldest  child  of  Abner  Judson,  of 
Stratford,  Connecticut,  and  a  nephew  of  the  Rev.  David 
Judson  (Yale  1738),  was  born  in  Stratford  on  August 
n,  1757.  His  mother  was  Hannah,  third  daughter  of 
Captain  Stiles  and  Rebecca  (Judson)  Curtis,  of  Stratford. 
His  father  died  during  his  Freshman  year. 

He  settled  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Fairfield,  where  he 
married  on  November  13,  1783,  Esther,  the  elder  surviv- 
ing daughter  of  Deacon  Nathan  and  Sarah  (Perry)  Bulk- 
ley,  and  became  a  prominent  man  in  various  ways. 

He  was  at  one  time  postmaster,  was  a  founder  and  the 
treasurer  of  the  Academy,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
first  public  library  in  the  town. 

When  his  father-in-law  resigned  in  1787,  on  account  of 
ill-health,  his  office  as  deacon  in  the  Congregational 
Church,  Mr.  Judson  was  chosen  as  his  successor. 


42  Yale  College 

He  died  in  Fairfield  on  March  3,  1841,  in  his  84th  year. 
His  wife  survived  him,  dying  on  September  6,  1843,  in 
her  8  ist  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,       50.      Perry,  Old  Burying  Ground  of 
42.       Chapman,  Bulkeley  Genealogy,       Fairfield,  190-91. 


AARON  KELLOGG,,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Daniel 
Kellogg,  and  grandson  of  Lieutenant  Nathaniel  and  Sarah 
(Preston)  Kellogg,  of  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  was  born 
on  May  5,  1754,  but  was  not  baptized  until  November  16, 
1755.  The  delay  was  probably  due  to  his  father's  removal 
at  about  the  date  of  this  son's  birth  from  Hadley  to 
Amherst,  Massachusetts,  where  he  afterwards  lived.  His 
mother  was  Esther,  daughter  of  John  and  Esther  (Colton) 
Smith,  of  South  Hadley. 

He  did  not  enter  College  at  the  beginning  of  the  course. 

A  younger  brother  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College 
in  1775,  and  received  an  ad  eundem  degree  here  at  the 
time  of  Aaron  Kellogg's  graduation. 

In  November,  1778,  he  went  to  Boston  and  enlisted  as 
a  mariner  on  board  the  frigate  Deane,  on  which  he  served 
for  one  year. 

The  rest  of  his  life  was  spent  in  Amherst,  and  during 
much  of  the  time  he  was  deranged. 

He  died  in  Amherst  on  December  n,  1830,  aged  76^2 
years.  He  was  never  married. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Hopkins,  The  Kelloggs,  i,  135-36.    Judd,  Hist,  of  Hadley,  526. 


NATHAN  LEAVENWORTH,  fourth  son  and  fifth  child  of 
the  Rev.  Mark  Leavenworth  (Yale  1737)  by  his  second 
wife,  Sarah  Hull,  was  born  in  Waterbury,  Connecticut, 
on  December  n,  1761.  He  did  not  enter  College  at  the 
opening  of  the  course. 


Biographical  Sketches,  J//5  43 

Having  studied  medicine,  he  joined  the  8th  Massachu- 
setts Continental  Regiment  as  Surgeon's  Mate,  his  com- 
mission being  dated  February  i,  1780.  He  retained  this 
position  until  the  last  of  the  army  was  disbanded  in  Decem- 
ber, 1783,  and  was  then  reappointed  in  the  new  American 
Regiment,  which  continued  on  detail  at  West  Point  until 
June  or  July,  1784.  His  service  was  with  Washington's 
main  army  on  the  Hudson. 

He  then  settled  in  Waterbury  as  a  physician,  but  a  few 
weeks  later,  in  October,  1784,  removed  to  Darlington 
District  (or  County),  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the 
State  of  South  Carolina,  where  he  practiced  his  profession 
until  obliged  to  leave  by  ill  health  in  1793. 

He  then  returned  to  Waterbury,  where  he  continued  in 
painful  weakness,  but  cheerful  and  resigned,  until  his 
death,  on  January  9,  1799,  having  just  entered  on  his 
38th  year.  He  was  never  married. 

Leavenworth  post-office,  in  the  northern  part  of  Dar- 
lington County,  near  the  place  of  his  residence,  was  named 
from  him,  but  was  discontinued  after  the  civil  war. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bugbee,  Memorials  of  Mass.  So-  Leavenworth  Genealogy,  49,  97-98- 
ciety  of  the  Cincinnati,  327.  John-  New  Haven  Colony  Hist.  Society's 
ston,  Yale  in  the  Revolution,  340-41.  Papers,  ii,  346. 


JOSIAH  MEIGS,  the  youngest  of  thirteen  children  of 
Return  Meigs,  a  hatter,  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Janna  and  Hannah  (Willard)  Meigs,  of  East 
Guilford,  now  Madison,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  August 
21,  1757.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John 
and  Elizabeth  (Partridge)  Hamlin,  of  Middletown.  A 
daughter  of  one  of  his  brothers  was  the  mother  of  Presi- 
dent Porter  of  Yale  College. 

He  was  elected  to  a  tutorship  in  the  College  in  January, 
1781,  while  teaching  in  Claverack,  New  York,  and  on 
February  21,  he  entered  on  that  office. 


44  Yale  College 

He  had  established  a  reputation  while  an  undergraduate 
as  a  writer  and  public  speaker;  and  was  called  upon  in 
November,  1781,  to  act  as  orator  at  the  celebration  in 
New  Haven  of  the  victory  over  Cornwallis. 

During  the  ensuing  winter  vacation  he  was  married, 
on  January  21,  1782,  to  Clara  (or  Clarissa),  third  daugh- 
ter of  Colonel  John  Benjamin,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut, 
and  a  sister  of  De  Lucena  Benjamin  (Yale  1788). 

In  April,  1783,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  New 
Haven,  and  in  February,  1784,  on  the  establishment  of  a 
city  government  here,  he  was  chosen  city  clerk.  He  car- 
ried on  the  business  of  this  office  in  connection  with  the 
tutorship  until  the  ensuing  vacation,  when  (on  May  6), 
he  retired  from  his  College  duties. 

At  the  same  time  he  established,  in  partnership  with 
Daniel  Bowen  and  Eleutheros  Dana,  a  printing  and  pub- 
lishing office,  from  which  the  first  number  of  a  weekly 
newspaper,  Called  The  Neiv-Haven  Gazette,  was  issued 
on  May  13.  His  partners  withdrew  from  the  enterprise 
in  1786-87,  but  Mr.  Meigs  continued  to  conduct  the  paper 
(which  became  The  New-Haven  Gazette  and  the  Con- 
necticut Magazine  in  February,  1786)  until  January  i, 
1789,  when  it  ceased  publication.  The  paper  was  credit- 
able to  its  editor.  In  the  most  important  crisis  of  that 
day,  it  favored  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 
The  most  important  literary  contribution  contained  in  it 
was  The  Anarchiad,  a  New  England  poem,  by  David 
Humphreys,  Joel  Barlow,  John  Trumbull,  and  Lemuel 
Hopkins,  which  appeared  in  twelve  numbers  in  1786-87. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Meigs  was  also  pursuing  addi- 
tional studies  in  natural  philosophy  and  astronomy,  and 
his  reputation  was  such  that  he  was  employed  by  the  Col- 
lege Corporation  in  1787  as  a  Lecturer  in  those  subjects; 
his  business,  however,  was  interfered  with,  so  that  he 
resigned  the  duty  after  about  six  months. 

In  December,  1789,  he  removed  to  St.  George's,  in  the 
Bermuda  Islands,  on  the  promise  of  legal  business  from 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  45 

American  clients,  and  there  he  remained  until  May,  1794, 
when  some  unpleasant  experiences  in  connection  with  his 
services  in  the  protection  qf  American  seamen  who  had 
been  captured  by  British  privateers,  forced  him  to  return 
to  his  native  country. 

He  spent  four  or  five  months  in  New  York  City  and  in 
Stratford,  and  on  October  8  he  received  an  appointment  as 
Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  at 
Yale.  The  appointment  was  for  one  year,  with  the  expec- 
tation that  it  would  be  renewed  yearly  during  good  behav- 
ior. He  accepted  the  offer  five  weeks  later,  and  was  form- 
ally inducted  on  December  4. 

President  Stiles,  through  whose  personal  friendliness 
this  step  had  been  accomplished,  died  suddenly  five  months 
later ;  and  very  soon  after  that  event  it  began  to  be  pub- 
licly known  that  Professor  Meigs  was  not  in  sympathy 
with  the  Federalist  party,  of  which  Dr.  Dwight,  the  new 
President,  was  so  distinguished  a  light. 

Although  no  one  doubted  his  enthusiasm  as  a  teacher, 
his  indiscreet  expressions  of  approval  of  the  French  Rev- 
olution, and  his  disapproval  of  the  measures  of  the  admin- 
istration, caused  so  much  friction,  that  in  November,  1800, 
through  the  support  of  the  Hon.  Abraham  Baldwin  (Yale 
1772),  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  he  was 
elected  the  first  Professor  in  the  new  University  of  Geor- 
gia, located  at  Athens  in  Clarke  County. 

He  immediately  (in  December,  1800)  resigned  his  pro- 
fessorship at  Yale,  and  went  in  February,  1801,  to  Athens, 
where  he  was  unanimously  elected  President  on  June  16, 
with  a  salary  of  $1500. 

The  sentiments  of  his  former  friends  and  pupils  are 
fairly  expressed  by  the  following  extract  from  a  letter 
(dated  December  26,  1800)  of  Jedidiah  Morse  (Yale 
1783)  to  his  classmate  Daggett: — 

I  am  not  sorry  to  hear  of  the  removal  of  Prof.  M.  I  wish  him 
well  for  what  he  has  been, — &  for  his  present  merits — but  as  his 
principles  are  contagious,  it  will  be  best  for  him  I  think  to  go  where 


46  Yale  College 

they  can  do  no  harm,  as  in  Georgia  he  will  find  Jacobins  formed 
to  his  hand — &  who  are  past  being  polluted. 

The  University  was  without  buildings,  teachers,  or 
students,  and  had  to  be  created  mainly  by  the  exertions  of 
the  new  President.  He  labored  with  abundant  energy, 
but  as  in  his  earlier  situation  was  soon  in  difficulties,  prin- 
cipally it  would  seem  on  account  of  the  impossibility  of 
making  bricks  without  straw.  He  struggled  along, 
against  the  distrust  and  opposition  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, until  August,  1810,  when  he  resigned  the  presidency, 
though  still  retaining  his  Professorship  of  Mathematics 
and  Natural  Philosophy,  to  which  Chemistry  was  also 
added  at  this  time.  But  the  causes  of  difficulty  were 
untouched,  and  a  year  later,  on  August  9,  1811,  he  was 
removed  from  his  office,  on  charges  of  misconduct,  based 
upon  reports  of  criticisms  on  the  acts  of  the  Trustees. 
These  charges  were  obviously  not  the  real  grounds  of  his 
removal,  and  he  had  no  difficulty  in  triumphantly  refu- 
ting them. 

He  remained  in  Georgia  for  some  time  longer,  but  in 
October,  1812,  he  received  from  President  Jefferson  the 
appointment  of  Surveyor-General  of  the  United  States, 
succeeding  Colonel  Jared  Mansfield  (Yale  1777),  with  a 
salary  of  $2000.  This  commission  was  confirmed  by 
vote  of  the  Senate  in  November,  and  he  soon  after  fixed 
his  residence  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

In  October,  1814,  he  exchanged  his  appointment  for  that 
of  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  of  the  United 
States,  at  Washington,  with  a  salary  of  $2250,  which  he 
retained  until  his  death.  He  administered  his  office  satis- 
factorily, and  deserves  remembrance  for  having  endeav- 
ored to  introduce  a  system  of  daily  meteorological  obser- 
vations at  all  of  the  Land  Offices  in  the  country,  which 
were  reported  monthly  to  the  General  Office  in  Washing- 
ton, and  made  the  basis  of  interesting  deductions. 

While  living  in  Cincinnati  he  was  the  first  president  of 
a  scientific  association  called  "The  School  of  Literature 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  47 

and  the  Arts";  and  in  Washington  he  was  from  1819 
until  his  death  the  president  of  "The  Columbian  Institute." 
He  was  one  of  the  original  Trustees  of  the  Columbian 
College  (or  University)  in  1821,  and  in  the  same  year  was 
elected  Professor  of  Experimental  Philosophy  in  that 
institution. 

He  had  enjoyed  remarkably  good  health  throughout 
his  life;  and  after  an  illness  of  eight  days,  he  died  in 
Washington  in  the  evening  of  September  4,  1822,  at  the 
age  of  65  years. 

His  widow  died  in  1850,  at  the  age  of  82,  at  the  house 
of  her  daughter  in  Columbus,  Georgia. 

Their  children  were  six  sons  and  three  daughters,  of 
whom  four  sons  and  a  daughter  survived  him.  The 
eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1799,  and  the  second 
and  third  sons  at  the  University  of  Georgia,  in  1807  and 
1809,  respectively.  The  eldest  daughter  married  the  Hon. 
John  Forsyth,  United  States  Senator  and  Governor  of 
Georgia.  An  interesting  sketch  of  President  MeigsV  life 
by  a  great-grandson  was  printed  in  1887  (8°>  PP-  xi>  I32)- 
A  silhouette  likeness  is  prefixed  to  this  life,  and  an  engrav- 
ing from  a  portrait  in  the  possession  of  the  family  is  given 
in  a  recent  (1894)  History  of  the  University  of  Georgia. 

He  published: 

1.  An  Oration  pronounced  before  a  public  Assembly  in  New- 
Haven,  on  the  5th  Day  of  November,  1781,  at  the  Celebration  of 
the  glorious   Victory   over   Lieutenant-General   Earl    Cornwallis.  . 
New-Haven,  1782.    sm.  4°,  pp.  14. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    M.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

2.  Statement  of  the  Causes  of  the  Removal  from  Office,  of  the 
Professor  of  Mathematics,  Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry,  in 
the  University  of  Georgia,  respectfully  addressed  to  a  candid  com- 
munity.   Augusta,  1811.    8°,  pp.  16.  [Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

A.  Bishop,  Oration  at  Wallingford,  Hist,  of  Stratford,  ii,  1146.  Pres. 
1801,  51.  Hull,  Hist.  Sketch  of  the  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  iii,  passim. 
Univ.  of  Georgia,  13-25.  W.  M.  Wile  ox,  Descendants  of  W.  Wilcox- 
Meigs,  Life  of  Josiah  Meigs.  Orcutt,  son,  V.  Meigs  and  R.  Webb,  31,  35. 


48  Yale  College 

ASHER  MILLER,  the  eldest  child  of  Deacon  Giles  and 
Elizabeth  (Parsons)  Miller,  was  born  in  the  present  town- 
ship of  Middlefield,  then  a  part  of  Middletown,  Connecti- 
cut, on  November  24,  1753.  He  did  not  enter  College  at 
the  opening  of  the  course. 

He  was  distinguished  in  scholarship  as  an  undergrad- 
uate, and  kept  up  his  scientific  studies  in  later  years. 

He  studied  law  and  settled  in  Middletown  in  practice, 
and  so  commended  himself  to  his  fellow-townsmen  that 
they  chose  him  as  one  of  their  Representatives  in  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  as  early  as  May,  1785.  He  was  re-elected 
to  this  service  in  ten  additional  sessions  of  the  Assembly 
between  1788  and  1793,  in  which  latter  year  he  was  first 
chosen  to  the  Upper  House  of  Assistants.  He  was  also 
State's  Attorney  from  1785  to  1794. 

In  1793  he  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court, 
but  resigned  his  seat  in  1795. 

He  was  again  elected  a  Representative  in  the  Legisla- 
ture in  1798  and  1803-04;  and  from  1806  to  1817  was 
again  a  member  of  the  Upper  House,  and  served  ex  officio 
for  that  time  as  a  Fellow  of  the  College. 

In  1791  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Middle- 
town,  and  held  this  office  until  his  death. 

He  was  the  presiding  Judge  of  the  Middlesex  County 
Court  from  May,  1807,  until  his  death;  and  Judge  of  the 
Probate  District  of  Middletown  from  May,  1789,  to  May, 
1793,  and  again  from  May,  1807,  until  his  death. 

He  died  in  Middletown,  very  suddenly,  on  December  24, 
1821,  aged  68  years. 

He  married  in  Middletown,  on  December  12,  1781, 
Sarah,  widow  of  Grove  Ward,  of  Middletown,  and  daugh- 
ter of  James  and  Sarah  (Shailer)  Lord,  of  Saybrook. 
She  died  on  March  2,  1826,  in  her  85th  year.  An  elder 
sister  was  the  wife  of  Titus  Hosmer  (Yale  1757). 

They  had  no  children,  but  his  step-daughter,  Sally 
Ward,  became  the  wife  of  Enoch  Huntington  (Yale 

1785)- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  49 

Judge  Miller's  estate  was  hopelessly  insolvent. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Atkins,  Hist,  of  Middlefield,  41-42.       Family,     174.      F.     F.     Starr,    MS. 
Bailey,   Early    Conn.    Marriages,   vi,       Letters,   Oct.  30,   1905,  and   Oct.   13, 
104.     Field,    Centennial    Address    at       1906. 
Middletown,     100-01.        Huntington 


JOHN  Mix,  Junior,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  John 
Mix,  of  New  Haven,  by  his  second  wife,  Sarah,  and  grand- 
son of  John  and  Esther  Mix,  of  New  Haven,  was  bap- 
tized on  October  25,  1761.  ' 

He  settled  in  New  Haven,  and  at  the  time  of  his  father's 
death  in  1796  he  was  still  in  active  life;  but  in  1805  on 
account  of  loss  of  reason  it  was  necessary  to  put  him  under 
a  conservator,  and  he  continued  insane  until  his  death,  in 
New  Haven,  on  April  3,  1844,  in  his  83d  year. 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  John  Mix,  Jr.,  united  with  the  White 
Haven  Church  in  New  Haven,  on  profession  of  faith,  in 
September,  1782;  another  Mrs.  John  Mix,  Jr.,  joined  the 
same  church  in  December,  1793;  and  John  Mix,  Jr.,  fol- 
lowed her  example  in  October,  1795.  It  is  possible  that 
these  entries  may  not  refer  to  this  graduate,  as  another 
John  seems  to  have  been  known  as  John  Mix,  Jr.,  in  New 
Haven  at  or  about  this  time. 


JOSEPH  NOYES,  the  eldest  son  of  John  Noyes  (Yale 
1753),  of  New  Haven,  was  born  in  this  town  on  Febru- 
ary 14,  1761.  His  father  died  in  1767,  and  his  mother 
(Mary  Fish)  married  in  1775  General  Gold  S.  Silliman 
(Yale  1752),  of  Fair  field,  Connecticut,  where  the  sons  by 
her  former  marriage  henceforth  made  their  home. 

He  was  educated  as  a  lawyer,  and  married  on  December 
n,  1783,  Amelia,  the  youngest  child  of  Ebenezer  and 
Amelia  (Silliman)-  Burr,  of  Fairfield.  Her  father  had 
died  in  1766,  when  she  was  adopted  by  her  uncle,  General 
Silliman,  whose  step-son  she  now  married. 

4 


50  Yale  College 

In  1800  Mr.  Noyes  removed  to  northeastern  Ohio,  then 
known  as  "New  Connecticut,"  being  a  proprietor  of  land 
in  that  country;  and  there  attempted,  too  late  in  life,  the 
arduous  task  of  reducing  the  forest  to  cultivation.  His 
family  then  consisted  of  four  sons  and  one  daughter ;  but 
his  wife  and  eldest  son  soon  died,  and  after  contracting  a 
second  marriage  he  removed  to  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  keeping  school  at  the  time  of  his 
death  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1817,  at  the  age  of  56. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,    Conn.    Marriages,    vi,    42.       1858.     Todd,  Burr  Family,  154. 
Prof.  B.  Silliman,  MS.  Letter,  Dec., 


GILES  PETTIBONE,  Junior,  eldest  son  of  Colonel  Giles 
Pettibone,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  and  most  prominent 
citizens  of  Norfolk,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Jona- 
than and  Martha  (Humphrey)  Pettibone,  of  Simsbury, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Norfolk  on  May  15,  1760.  His 
mother  was  Desire,  eldest  child  of  Colonel  Jonathan  and 
Desire  (Owen)  Humphrey,  of  Simsbury.  One  of  his 
brothers  entered  Yale  in  1784,  but  left  without  gradua- 
ting; and  two  others  were  graduated  at  Williams  College 
in  1800  and  1805  respectively.  Giles  Pettibone  was 
prepared  for  College  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Ammi  R. 
Robbins. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town,  and  built  in  1794  a  large 
house  (still  standing)  facing  the  green,  which  he  kept 
during  the  rest  of  his  life  as  a  hotel. 

He  succeeded  his  father  in  the  office  of  Town  Treasurer 
in  1803,  and  held  the  position  for  six  years. 

He  died  in  Norfolk  on  February  27,  1811,  in  his  5ist 
year. 

He  married  Louisa,  eldest  daughter  of  Nathaniel  and 
Eunice  (Allen)  Pease,  of  Enfield  and  'Norfolk,  who  died 
on  August  14,  1835,  in  her  75th  year.  Their  children  were 
eight  daughters  and  one  son. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  51 

AUTHORITIES. 

Crissey,  Hist,  of  Norfolk,  539,  614.       Family  Record,  30. 
Humphreys     Family,     300.        Pease 


DANIEL  REED  was  born  in  Salisbury,  Connecticut,  on 
May  22  (or  24),  1756,  being  the  son  of  Elias  and  Mary 
(Todd)  Reed,  of  Salisbury,  and  grandson  of  Thomas  and 
Mary  (Olmstead)  Reed,  of  Norwalk,  Connecticut.  He 
was  prepared  for  College  by  the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins, 
of  Norfolk. 

After  graduation  he  was  employed  as  a  surveyor  in 
Salisbury,  but  later  he  studied  medicine  and  settled  in  prac- 
tice in  Rutland,  Vermont.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Col- 
onel James  Mead  (from  Nine  Partners,  New  York)  and 
Mercy  (Holmes)  Mead,  of  West  Rutland,  and  from  that 
time  lived  on  a  place  given  to  his  wife  by  her  father  in 
West  Rutland.  He  represented  the  town  in  the  General 
Assembly  in  1805. 

He  was  considered  a  skilful  physician,  particularly  in 
febrile  complaints.  He  was  very  poor  for  a  considerable 
part  of  his  life,  in  consequence  of  intemperance,  which 
probably  prevented  his  attaining  that  eminence  in  his  pro- 
fession which  he  otherwise  might  have  enjoyed. 

He  was  received  into  the  Congregational  Church  in 
West  Rutland  in  1803,  and  died  there  on  July  28,  1844, 
aged  88  years. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Dr.    Joseph    Palmer,    MS.    Letter,       Letter,  Sept.  7,  1905. 
Febr.  6, 1852.     Malcolm  D.  Rudd,  MS. 


EBENEZER  SAGE,  the  fifth  son  of  Deacon  David  Sage, 
of  that  part  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  which  was  incor- 
porated as  Portland  in  1841  (having  been  a  part  of  the 
town  of  Chatham  since  1767),  and  grandson  of  Timothy 
and  Margaret  (Hurlbut)  Sage,  of  Middletown,  was  born 
on  August  1 6,  1755.  His  mother  was  Sarah,  second 


52  Yale  College 

daughter  of  Stephen  and  Elizabeth  (Hall)  Stocking,  of 
Chatham. 

He  settled  as  a  physician  in  Easthampton,  Suffolk 
County,  Long  Island,  in  1784,  and  married  in  1790  Ruth, 
daughter  of  Dr.  William  and  Ruth  (Howell)  Smith,  of 
Southampton,  in  that  county. 

In  1796  he  returned  to  his  native  place,  but  five  years 
later  came  back  and  settled  in  Sag-Harbor,  in  the  town  of 
Southampton.  He  was  a  cautious  and  skilful  physician, 
and  a  gentleman  of  science  and  literature.  Possessing 
equanimity  of  temper  and  a  talent  for  humor,  his  com- 
pany and  conversation  were  highly  appreciated. 

In  politics  he  was  a  disciple  of  Jefferson,  and  was  a 
Member  of  Congress  from  May,  1809,  to  March,  1815, 
and  again  from  December,  1819,  to  March,.  1821. 
Although  he  never  attempted  a  speech  in  the  House,  his 
opinions  and  judgment  were  much  respected.  He  was  a 
man  of  elevated  character,  and  could  express  his  thoughts 
in  writing  with  facility. 

In  1821  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Convention  for  amend- 
ing the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York.  He  was 
appointed  a  Presidential  Elector  in  1824,  but  did  not  fulfil 
the  duties. 

He  died  in  Southampton  on  January  20,  1834,  in  his 
79th  year.  His  wife  died  in  May,  1831,  aged  66. 

Their  children  were  one  son  and  one  daughter.  The 
son  succeeded  his  father  in  his  profession. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Sage     Genealogy,    58-59.      South-       son,  Hist,  of  L.  I.,  2d  ed.,  i,  357. 
ampton  Records,  iii,  260,  363.    Thomp- 


NOAH  SMITH  was  a  native  of  Suffield,  Connecticut,  but 
had  removed  to  Rupert,  Vermont,  before  entering  Yale. 
He  was  prepared  for  College  by  the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Rob- 
bins  of  Norfolk,  Connecticut.  A  younger  brother  was 
graduated  here  in  1781. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  53 

He  participated,  with  his  classmate  Jacob,  in  the  cele- 
bration of  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Bennington,  in 
August,  1778;  and  in  May,  1779,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Vermont  at  Westminster, 
and  was  at  once  appointed  State's  Attorney,  pro  tempore, 
for  Cumberland  County. 

In  1781  he  settled  in  Bennington,  and  at  the  first  session 
of  the  County  Court  in  the  same  year  he  was  appointed 
State's  Attorney  for  Bennington  County,  which  office  he 
held  for  several  years.  In  1789  he  was  chosen  to  represent 
the  town  of  Johnson  in  the  General  Assembly,  though  a 
resident  of  Bennington,  and  while  serving  in  this  office 
he  was  elected  by  the  Assembly,  on  October  14,  a  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Vermont.  He  held  this  appoint- 
ment until  January,  1791,  when  he  resigned  in  consequence 
of  a  nomination  to  the  office  of  United  States  Senator ;  he 
was  not,  however,  elected  to  the  Senate.  In  March,  1791, 
he  was  appointed  by  President  Washington  .Supervisor  of 
Excise  and  Impost  for  Vermont.  While  a  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council  in  1798  he  was  re-elected  to  the 
Supreme  bench,  and  resigning  his  seat  in  the  Assembly 
held  the  judgeship  by  annual  election  until  1801. 

He  was  also  Collector  of  the  Internal  Revenue  of  the 
United  States  under  Washington. 

Soon  after  the  year  1800  he  removed  to  Milton,  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  State,  where  he  resided  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  that  town  on  December  23  or 
24,  1812,  in  his  56th  year. 

He  built  a  meeting-house  in  Milton  and  gave  it  to  the 
Congregational  Church  and  Society,  in  1806  or  1807. 

He  published : 

A  Speech  delivered  at  Bennington,  on  the  Anniversary  of  the  i6th 
of  August,  1777.  Hartford,  1779.  8°,  pp.  8.  [B.  Publ.  U.  S. 

He  married,  in  Canaan,  Connecticut,  on  November  4, 
1779,  Chloe  Burrall,  a  sister  of  William  Burrall  (Yale 
1781),  who  died  on  March  i,  1810,  in  her  53d  year. 


54  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,       420-21.     Records    of    Governor   and 
72.    Deming,  Catalogue  of  Vermont       Council  of  Vermont,  iii,  188,  226,  489, 
Officers,    73,   75.      Hemenway,   Ver-      513-14;     iv,    168-69.    Vermont   Hist, 
mont    Historical    Gazetteer,    i,     165.       Society's  Collections,  i,  253-61. 
Hinman,  Genealogy  of  the  Puritans, 


ASA  SPALDING  was  born  on  May  20,  1757,  on  a  farm  in 
the  town  of  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  which  shortly  after 
his  graduation  was  included  in  the  new  township  of  Brook- 
lyn. He  was  the  eighth  child  and  fourth  son  of  Ebenezer 
Spalding,  and  grandson  of  Edward  and  Mary  (Adams) 
Spalding,  of  Canterbury.  His  mother  was  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Josiah  Fassett,  of  Canterbury.  He  did  not  enter 
College  at  the  beginning  of  the  course. 

He  studied  law  with  Judge  Andrew  Adams  (Yale 
1760),  of  Litchneld,  Connecticut,  and  settled  as  an  attor- 
ney in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  in  1782. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  career  he  had  very  limited  means 
and  no  special  patronage,  and  was  forced  to  practice  the 
most  rigid  economy ;  but  by  unremitting  attention  to  busi- 
ness and  strict  integrity,  enforced  by  his  native  ability  and 
sound  judgment,  he  acquired  an  extensive  practice  and  in 
the  end  amassed  a  handsome  property. 

In  politics  he  was  a  Jeffersonian  democrat,  and  was 
three  times  elected  to  the  Legislature  as  a  Represen- 
tative,— in  1795,  1796,  and  1804.  He  was  for  several 
years  before  his  death  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  the 
office  of  Governor,  without  the  remotest  prospect  of  elec- 
tion. He  was  also  for  many  years  State's  Attorney  for 
New  London  County. 

His  talents  were  solid  and  profound,  rather  than  bril- 
liant; and  although  an  able,  he  was  not  a  polished  or 
eloquent  speaker.  He  was  blunt  and  peculiar  in  manner, 
and  his  excellence  lay  in  his  industry,  honesty,  and  regard 
for  sincerity  and  truth. 

During  his  later  years  he  owned  and  occupied  one  of 
the  handsomest  residences  in  Norwich,  and  he  left  an 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  55 

estate  of  $150,000,  a  great  sum  for  those  days.  He  died 
in  Norwich  very  suddenly,  from  angina  pectoris,  on 
August  n,  1811,  in  his  55th  year. 

He  married,  on  November  21,  1787,  Lydia  Shipman,  of 
Norwich.  Of  their  two  children,  one  died  in  infancy,  and 
the  other,  a  daughter,  at  the  age  of  twelve. 

Mrs.  Spalding  married  on  August  18,  1819,  Captain 
Bela  Peck,  of  Norwich,  as  his  second  wife,  and  died  on 
August  1 8,  1835,  aged  68  years,  without  children. 

Two  of  his  nephews  were  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1817 
and  1818  respectively. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Caulkins,  Hist,  of  Norwich,  2d  ed.,  ealogy,  341.    Perkins,  Old  Houses  of 

510-20.       Conn.     Courant,     July    23,  Norwich,  i,  243-44.    Spalding  Memo- 

1806.    Pease  and  Niles,  Gazetteer  of  rial,  47,  94-96- 
Conn,  and  R.  I.,  149-50.     Peck  Gen- 


JOSIAH  SPALDING  (later  written  SPAULDING)  was  born 
in  Plainfield,  Connecticut,  on  January  10,  1751. 

He  was  not  here  at  the  opening  of  the  course. 

He  pursued  theological  studies  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Stephen  West  (Yale  1755),  of  Stockbridge,  Massachu- 
setts, and  received  a  license  to  preach  on  January  7,  1780. 

Early  in  1782  he  was  preaching  in  Hardwick,  Worcester 
County,  Massachusetts,  with  great  acceptance,  as  an 
assistant  to  the  aged  and  infirm  pastor,  the  Rev.  David 
White  (Yale  1730) ;  but  plans  for  his  permanent  settle- 
ment there  fell  through,  and  we  next  hear  of  him  in 
Uxbridge  in  the  same  county,  where  the  Rev.  Hezekiah 
Chapman  (Yale  1766)  had  been  dismissed  from  the  pas- 
torate in  April,  1781. 

Mr  Spaulding  was  ordained  as  minister  of  the  church 
in  Uxbridge  on  September  n,  1783,  but  remained  there 
only  four  years.  Early  in  September,  1787,  the  town,  as 
the  society  connected  with  the  church,  voted  to  advise  him 
to  seek  a  dismission;  and  a  council  called  on  October  2 


56  Yale  College 

sanctioned  his  removal.  It  is  surmised  that  his  unpop- 
ularity was  due  to  his  Calvinistic  theology. 

Thence  he  went  to  Worthington,  in  Hampshire  County, 
where  he  was  installed  pastor  on  August  21,  1788.  But 
here  also  there  was  dissatisfaction,  which  led  to  charges 
being  preferred  against  him,  of  neglect  in  visiting  his 
parishioners,  especially  the  sick,  of  variations  in  doctrine, 
and  of  falsehood  and  fraud.  A  council  which  was  called 
investigated  these  charges  and  found  them  baseless;  but 
in  consequence  of  the  large  number  of  the  church  and  of 
the  town  who  were  dissatisfied  they  advised  his  dismis- 
sion, which,  accordingly  took  place  in  March,  1794.  He 
left  with  the  reputation  of  being  sound  in  doctrine,  but 
very  eccentric. 

From  Worthington  he  went  to  Buckland,  a  few  miles 
further  north  in  the  same  county  (now  in  Franklin 
County),  where  a  Congregational  Church  had  been  formed 
in  1785.  Mr.  Spaulding  was  installed  as  the  first  pastor  on 
October  15,  1794,  and  remained'  there  until  his  death,  in 
that  town,  on  May  8,  1823,  in  his  73d  year. 

He  married,  about  the  ist  of  February,  1784,  Mary, 
daughter  of  Judge  Williams,  of  Taunton,  Massachusetts, 
who  died  on  February  n,  1823,  aged  67  years.  His  own 
health  had  for  some  time  previously  been  declining,  and 
a  violent  attack  of  disease  at  the  end  of  April  was  the 
beginning  of  the  end.  . 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  one  son.  The 
son  became  violently  and  hopelessly  insane  while  prepar- 
ing for  College;  and  lived  to  advanced  age  in  that 
condition. 

An  obituary  notice,  written  by  one  of  his  ministerial 
neighbors,  ascribes  to  him  "powers  of  intellect  of  a  supe- 
rior class.  To  extensive  reading  he  added  much  thought. 
There  was  little  in  his  person  or  manner  in  the  pulpit  that 
would  be  called  commanding.  He  possessed  not  the  graces 
of  elocution.  Yet  he  was  an  instructive  preacher.  . .  As 
a  Christian,  he  must  be  considered  as  pre-eminent/'  The 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  57 

historian  of  Western  Massachusetts  describes  him  as  "one 
of  the  best  men,  and  one  of  the  best  ministers,  in  the 
County."  Though  dull  and  uninteresting  in  manner,  his 
preaching  was  weighty  and  "instructive,  and  as  a  pastor 
and  a  man  he  was  thoroughly  trusted  and  ioved.  Meas- 
ured by  its  fruits,  his  ministry  in  Buckland  was  a  success- 
ful one. 

He  published : 

1.  A  Sermon  [from  Joshua  xxiv,  19]  on  the  Nature  and  Crimi- 
nality of  Man's  Inability  to  Serve  the  Lord.     Delivered  at  Hard- 
wick,  June  I5th,  1782.     Worcester  [1783?]     8°,  pp.  40. 

\A.A.S.    A.C.A.    B.Ath.    B.Pnbl.    Brozvn'Univ.    N.Y.H.S. 

2.  The  Duty  and  Importance  of  Calling  upon  God  Illustrated: 
in  Two  Sermons  [from  Rom.  x,  13].    The  substance  of  which  was 
delivered  at  Shelburne,  September  22d,  1799.     In  which  the  ques- 
tion, whether  it  is  better  for  an  unregenerate  man  to  pray,  than  to 
omit  prayer,  is  answered.    Northampton,  1800.    8°,  pp.  40. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ. 

3.  God's  Promise  to  Zion,  of  Union  and  Harmony  among  her 
watchmen. — A  Sermon  [from  Isaiah  Hi,  5],  delivered  at  the  Ordin- 
ation of  the  Rev.  Alvan  Tobey,   .  .    in  Wilmington,   (Ver.)    Sep- 
tember 14,  1803.     Northampton,  1805.    8°,  pp.  38. 

[Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S. 

4.  Universalism  confounds  and  destroys  itself ;    or,  Letters  to  a 
Friend....     Northampton,  1805.     8°,  pp.  359. 

[Andover  Theol.  Sent.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ. 
Harv.     U.  S.    Y.  C. 

5.  The    Burden   and    Heat   of   the   Day,   borne   by    the   Jewish 
Church. — A  Sermon   [from  John  iv,  38],  preached  at  Shelburne, 
before  the  Auxiliary  Society  for  Foreign  Missions,  at  their  Annual 
Meeting,  Oct.  12,  1813.    By  Joshua  Spaulding,  A.M.,  Pastor  of  the 
Church  in  Buckland.    Boston,  1814.    8°,  pp.  28. 

[B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus. 

The  argument  is  that  the  Jews  labored  diligently  and  spent  their 
substance  for  the  maintenance  of  religious  worship;  as  they  have 
gone  to  heaven,  beyond  the  reach  of  our  gratitude,  we  can  best 
repay  our  debt  to  them  by  sending  the  gospel  to  the  heathen. 

After  his  death  was  published  :— 

A  Sermon  [from  Mai.  ii,  15],  preached  March  2,  1823,  occa- 
sioned by  the  death  of  his  Wife. — To  which  is  added  a  short  account 


58  Yale  College 

of  the  life  and  character  of  the  Author.     Greenfield,   1823.     8°, 
pp.  1 6.  [Brown  Univ.    M.  H.  S. 

He  is  sometimes  confused  (especially  in  regard  to  his 
publications)  with  the  Rev.  Joshua  Spalding  (born  1760, 
died  1825),  of  Salem,  Massachusetts. 


AUTHORITIES. 

[Bisbee  and  Rice],  Hist,  of  Worth-  325-26.    Packard,  Churches  and  Min- 

ington,  63-64.      Blake,  Hist,   of  the  isters    in    Franklin    County,    Mass., 

Mendon  Association,  119-21.    Boston  53-59-      Paige,    Hist,    of    Hardwick, 

Recorder,   March  22,    1823.      Chapin,  192.        Spalding     Memorial,     490-91. 

Address    at    Uxbridge,    30-32.    Hoi-  Whitney,  Hist,  of  Worcester  County, 

land,  Hist,  of  Western  Mass.,  ii,  306,  127. 


SETH  STORRS,  the  third  son  and  seventh  child  of  Thomas 
Storrs,  of  Mansfield,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Thomas 
and  Mehitabel  Storrs,  of  Mansfield,  was  born  in  Mans- 
field on  June  24,  1756,  and  was  baptized  on  July  25.  His 
mother  was  Eunice,  daughter  of  Robert  Paddock,  of 
Mansfield.  He  did  not  enter  College  at  the  opening  of  the 
course. 

For  three  or  four  years  after  graduation  he  assisted  the 
Rev.  Timothy  D wight  (Yale  1769)  in  conducting  his 
Academy  in  Northampton,  Massachusetts.  Later  he 
seems  to  have  gone  to  New  York  City,  and  early  in  1786 
he  began  the  study  of  law  in  Bennington,  Vermont,  in 
the  office  of  his  classmate  Smith. 

Having  received  a  license  to  practice  law,  he  established 
himself  in  1787  in  Addison,  then  the  most  important  set- 
tlement in  the  newly  incorporated  Addison  County.  He 
was  appointed  the  first  State's  Attorney  for  the  County  in 
1787,  and  continued  to  hold  the  office  by  annual  appoint- 
ment for  the  next  ten  years.  He  found  board  in  the  fam- 
ily of  General  John  Strong,  the  Judge  of  the  County  Court, 
whose  second  daughter,  Electa,  he  married  on  November 
26,  1789. 

In  1791  the  courts  of  the  county  were  removed  by  direc- 
tion of  the  Legislature  from  Addison  to  Middlebury,  and 
thither  Mr.  Storrs  removed  his  residence  in  1794.  Here 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  59 

he  not  only  enjoyed  a  successful  practice,  but  was  among 
the  most  efficient  agents  in  counselling  and  contributing 
to  measures  for  advancing  the  prosperity  of  the  town.  He 
was  the  first  to  hold  the""  office  of  State  Auditor  of 
Accounts,  from  1797  to  1801. 

He  had  made  a  profession  of  religion  in  early  life,  and 
was  prominent  in  promoting  its  interests.  From  Decem- 
ber, 1798,  until  his  death  he  served  as  a  deacon  in  the 
Congregational  Church  of  Middlebury. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  corporation  of  the  County 
Grammar  School  which  was  located  in  Middlebury  in 
1797,  and  a  year  or  two  later  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
having  a  college  in  the  town.  As  a  result  of  his  sugges- 
tions Middlebury  College  was  chartered  in  November, 
1800,  and  Colonel  Storrs  (as  he  was  called)  was  made 
one  of  the  trustees.  In  this  capacity  he  was  one  of  the 
most  active  friends  of  the  institution,  and  the  commanding 
site  now  occupied  by  the  College  buildings  was  one  of  his 
valuable  benefactions. 

In  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  was  more  generally 
employed  in  various  offices  of  trust  than  in  the  labors  of 
his  profession.  He  was  town-clerk  for  twenty-three  years 
between  1801  and  1831. 

He  was  a  dignified  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  of  great 
sweetness  of  character. 

He  died  in  Vergennes,  Vermont,  while  on  a  visit  to 
friends,  on  October  5,  1837,  in  his  82d  year. 

His  widow  died  in  Middlebury,  on  March  15,  1842,  in 
her  72d  year.  Their  children  were  five  daughters  and 
three  sons,  all  of  whom  grew  to  maturity.  Two  of  the 
sons  were  graduates  of  Middlebury  College,  in  1819 
and  1832  respectively.  One  daughter  married  Professor 
Edward  Turner  (Yale  1818),  and  another  married  the 
Rev.  Wheelock  S.  Stone  (Middlebury  1828). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dimock,  Mansfield  Records,  170,  mon  at  Middlebury,  57,  66-67,  91- 
381.  Dwight,  Strong  Family,  ii,  1017,  Storrs  Family,  329,  345-47.  Swift, 
1028-29.  Merrill,  Semicentennial  Ser-  Hist,  of  Middlebury,  238-40. 


60  Yale  College 

ZEPHANIAH  SWIFT,  son  of  Roland  Swift,  was  born  in 
Wareham,  Plymouth  County,  Massachusetts,  on  Febru- 
ary 27,  1759.  In  his  childhood  his  parents  removed  to 
Lebanon,  Connecticut,  and  he  was  prepared  for  College  at 
the  famous  school  of  Master  Tisdale. 

Immediately  on  graduation,  he  began  the  study  of  law, 
and  on  admission  to  the  bar  settled  in  Mansfield,  Connect- 
icut, but  soon  removed  to  the  adjoining  town  of  Windham, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death. 

At  the  bar,  uniting  industry,  integrity,  and  persever- 
ance with  talents  of  no  common  order,  he  soon  became  a 
noted  advocate. 

At  this  time  there  was  in  the  community  strong  opposi- 
tion to  the  existing  alliance  between  the  Congregational 
churches  and  the  State,  and  Mr.  Swift  became  a  spokes- 
man of  this  party.  He  was  a  federalist  in  politics  and  a 
freethinker  in  religion,,  and  as  such  carried  the  election  as 
Representative  in  the  Legislature  in  May,  1787,  and  at 
eleven  more  sessions  up  to  the  time  of  his  being  sent  to 
Congress.  After  having  been  Clerk  of  the  Connecticut 
House  for  four  sessions,  he  was  elected  Speaker  in  Octo- 
ber, 1792. 

In  1793  he  retired  from  his  profession  on  being  chosen 
as  a  Representative  in  Congress,  and  he  continued  an 
influential  member  of  that  body  until  April,  1797,  when  he 
declined  a  re-election. 

In  the  mean  time  he  had  published  his  System  of  the 
Laws  of  Connecticut,  which  brought  him  deserved  honor, 
as  the  first  essay  of  that  kind  in  America. 

In  May,  1799,  he  was  chosen  into  the  Council,  or  Upper 
House  of  the  State  Legislature;  and  towards  the  close  of 
the  same  year  he  accompanied  Chief  Justice  Ellsworth  as 
his  Secretary  on  the  embassy  to  France  of  which  he  was 
the  head.  After  a  year's  residence  in  Europe,  he  returned 
with  augmented  affection  for  the  institutions  of  his  coun- 
try. The  suffrages '  of  his  fellow-citizens  immediately 
replaced  him  in  the  Council,  where  he  continued  a  con- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  61 

spicuous  member  until  October,  1801,  when  the  Legis- 
lature appointed  him  a  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court.  This 
station  he  held  with  high  and  increasing  reputation  for 
eighteen  years,  during  the  last  five  of  which  he  was  Chief 
Justice. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Convention  in  1814. 

In  1815  Yale  College  conferred  on  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  which  honor  was  also  given 
him  at  Middlebury  College  in  1821. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution  of  Connecti- 
cut in  1818, — a  partisan  revolution,  which  caused  his 
removal  from  the  Judgeship — the  Legislature  selected 
Judge  Swift,  with  two  associates,  to  revise  the  Statutes 
and  to  cause  them  to  conform  to  the  new  order.  To  Judge 
Swift  was  assigned  the  most  laborious  part  of  this  work 
and  its  exposition  to  the  Legislature.  These  duties  he  per- 
formed to  great  public  satisfaction.  He  also  served  the 
town  of  Windham  again  as  Representative — in  1820, 
1821,  and  1822. 

During  the  last  five  years  of  his  life  his  active  mind  was 
employed  in  compiling  a  Digest  of  the  Common  and  Stat- 
ute Law  of  the  State,  which  was  nearly  through  the  press 
at  the  time  of  his  death. 

In  August,  1823,  he  went  to  Ohio  to  visit  children  who 
were  settled  there.  While  at  the  house  of  his  son  (Yale 
1816)  in  Warren,  in  Trumbull  County,  he  was  seized 
with  an  inflammatory  fever,  which  terminated  his  life  on 
September  27,  in  his  65th  year. 

He  first  married  Jerusha,  daughter  of  John  Watrous, 
of  Colchester,  Connecticut,  who  died  on  May  21,  1792, 
aged  29  years. 

He  was  next  married  by  the  Rev.  Elijah  Waterman, 
on  March  14,  1795,  to  Lucretia,  youngest  daughter  of 
Captain  Nathaniel  Webb  (Yale  1757),  of  Windham. 
After  her  husband's  death  she  made  her  home  with  a 
daughter  in  Akron,  Ohio,  where  she  died  on  January  16, 
1843,  aged  68  years. 

He  published : 


62  Yale  College 

1.  An  Oration  on  Domestic   Slavery.     Delivered  at  the  North 
Meeting-House  in  Hartford,  on  the  i2th  Day  of  May,  A.D.  1791. 
At  the  Meeting  of  the  Connecticut  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Freedom.  .     Hartford,  1792.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[C.  H.  S.    Harv.    N.  Y,  H.  S.     U.  S.    U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

A  strenuous  argument  against  slavery,  written  in  a  tone  of  sym- 
pathy with  religious  leaders  quite  in  contrast  with  some  of  his 
later  utterances. 

2.  The    Correspondent. — Containing,    the    Publications    in    the 
Windham  Herald,  relative  to  the  Result  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Coun- 
cil, holden  at  Pomfret,  in  September,  1792,  and  the  Result  of  the 
Consociation  of  the  County  of  Windham,  holden  at  Pomfret,   in 
December,  1792,  respecting  the  Rev.  Oliver  Dodge;   together  with 
an  Appendix,   containing,   Some  general  Observations   relative  to 
the  true  Principles  and  Spirit  of  the  Christian  Religion.    Windham, 
1793.    8°,  pp.  140.  [N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

This  anonymous  pamphlet  betrays  a  very  bitter  spirit,  especially 
towards  certain  individuals  who  were  prominent  in  objecting  to 
Mr.  Dodge;  and  is  altogether  unworthy  of  the  author.  Replies 
were  published  by  the  Rev.  Moses  C.  Welch  (Yale  1772)  and  the 
Rev.  Eliphalet  Lyman  (Yale  1776). 

3.  An  Address  to  the  Reverend  Moses  C.  Welch,  containing  an 
Answer  to  his  Reply  to  the  Correspondent.  .     By  the  Correspon- 
dent.   Windham,  1794.    8°,  pp.  62.  [A.  C.  A. 

4.  A  System  of  the  Laws  of  the  State  of  Connecticut.     Wind- 
ham,  1795-96.    2  vols.    8°,  pp.  iv,  452  -f-  pi-,  and  v,  479,  xii. 

[B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     N.   Y.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     Y.  C. 

Containing  an  interesting  list  of  Subscribers. 

5.  A  Second  Address  to  the  Reverend  Moses  C.  Welch,  con- 
taining an  Answer  to  his  Letter  to  the  Correspondent.     Windham, 
1796.    8°,  pp.  43-  [A.  C.  A.    U.  S. 

This  pamphlet  is  very  vigorous.  Although  no  author's  name  is 
given,  the  authorship  is  practically  acknowledged. 

6.  A  Digest  of  the  Law  of  Evidence,  in  civil  and  criminal  cases. 
And  a  Treatise  on  Bills  of  Exchange,  and  Promissory  Notes.    Hart- 
ford, 1810.    8°,  pp.  xvi,  361,  xxx. 

[Brit.  Mus.    Han'.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

7.  A  Vindication  of  the  calling  of  the  Special  Superior  Court,  at 
Middletown,  on  the  4th  Tuesday  of  August,  1815,  for  the  Trial  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  63 

Peter  Lung,  charged  with  the  crime  of  murder.  With  Observations 
on  the  constitutional  power  of  the  Legislature  to  interfere  with  the 
Judiciary  in  the  administration  .of  justice.  Windham,  1816.  8°, 
pp.  48.  '  [C.H.  S.  U.  S.  U.  T.  S.  Y.  C. 

A  spirited  defence  of  his  own  conduct  as  Chief  Justice,  and  an 
arraignment  of  the  ignorant  interference  of  the  Legislature. 

8.  A  Digest  of  the  Laws  of  the  State  of  Connecticut.  New- 
Haven,  1822-23.  2  vols.  8°,  pp.  798,  8  +  pi.,  and  856.  [F.  C. 

Though  in  form  a  new  edition  of  No.  4  (above),  this  is  so  much 
enlarged  and  improved  as  to  be  essentially  a  new  work ;  it  is  of 
much  more  than  local  interest,  and  was  long  used  to  a  considerable 
extent  all  over  the  United  States,  both  in  legal  instruction  and  as 
an  authority  before  the  courts. 

A  few  selections  from  his  letters  to  the  Hon.  David  Daggett 
(Yale  1783),  written  while  in  Congress  in  1793-94,  are  printed  in 
the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  for  April, 
1887,  pp.  370-74.  

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,       Digest,    1823.      The    Port   Folio,   4th 
75.    Hoive,  Hist.  Collections  of  Ohio,       Series  (1824),  xvii,  87.    Vinton,  Giles 
ist  ed.,  479.    Lamed,  Hist,  of  Wind-       Memorial,   517-18,   556.      Yale   Law 
ham  County,  ii,  222-23,  227-28,  274-      Journal,  xi,  2. 
75.     Memoir,  prefixed  to  vol.  2  of  his 


URIAH  TRACY,  the  second  son  of  Eliphalet  and  Lucy 
[or  Sarah]  (Manning)  Tracy,  of  that  part  of  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  which  is  now  Franklin,  and  grandson  of 
Winslow  and  Rachel  (Ripley)  Tracy,  was  born  on  Febru- 
ary 2,  1755. 

After  graduation  he  went  to  Litchfield,  Connecticut, 
and  there  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  Tapping  Reeve,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  Litchfield  bar  in  1781.  He  was  popu- 
lar and  respected  as  an  attorney,  and  successful  in  the 
management  of  cases.  He  held  the  office  of  State's  Attor- 
ney for  Litchfield  County. 

He  was  regularly  chosen  by  the  town  of  Litchfield  as 
one  of  their  Representatives  in  the  General  Assembly 
from  October,  1788,  until  his  election  to  Congress  in  1793. 


64  Yale  College 

The  latter  station  he  held  until  his  appointment  to  the 
United  States  Senate  (to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the 
resignation  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Jr.)  in  October,  1796; 
and  in  this  office  he  continued  until  his  death  in  Washing- 
ton, on  July  19,  1807,  in  his  53d  year.  He  was  the  first 
person  to  be  interred  in  the  Congressional  burying  ground. 
He  had  suffered  acutely  for  six  or  seven  years  from  dropsy 
of  the  breast,  and  died  after  a  final  illness  of  four  or  five 
months. 

Besides  his  political  preferment,  he  passed  through  the 
several  grades  of  office  in  the  militia,  until  he  reached  the 
rank  of  Major-General. 

His  fellow-townsman,  James  Morris  (Yale  1775), 
wrote  of  him  in  1811  :— 

By  his  opponents  in  political  opinions,  he  was  highly  respected. 
His  mind  was  large  &  comprehensive :  he  had  an  extensive  knowl- 
edge of  the  human  character;  and  few  excelled  him  as  a  politician. 
Few  men  have  had  more  wit,  or  used  it  more  pleasantly.  . .  .  As  a 
religious  man,  he  did  not  terminate  his  thoughts  in  mere  specula- 
tions, but  embraced  the  Gospel  with  the  heart. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  his  colleague  in  the  Senate,  wrote 
thus  of  him  in  1805  :— 

Mr.  Tracy  shows  in  all  his  public  conduct  great  experience,  and 
a  thorough  familiarity  with  the  order  and  course  of  legislative  pro- 
ceedings. His  manner  is  peculiarly  accommodating  and  conciliatory ; 
his  command  of  temper  exemplary.  In  public  affairs,  it  appears  to 
me,  there  is  no  quality  more  useful  and  important  than  good 
humor. .  ;  and  this  quality  Mr.  Tracy  possesses  in  a  high  degree. 

In  addition  to  his  solid  attainments  as  a  debater  and 
reasoner,  he  was  a  charming  and  instructive  social  com- 
panion, abounding  in  wit  and  satire.  His  career,  how- 
ever, during  the  largest  part  of  his  active  life,  was  over- 
shadowed by  depressing  ill-health. 

He  married  Susan,  or  Susannah,  daughter  of  Isaac  and 
Eunice  (Gillett)  Bull,  of  Hartford,  by  whom  he  had  one 
son  and  four  daughters,  all  of  whom  married  lawyers  of 
distinction. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  65 

One  daughter  married  the  Hon.  James  Gould  (Yale 
1791),  and  another  married  the  Hon.  Theron  Metcalf 
(Brown  Univ.  1806). 

Mrs.  Tracy  died  in  Hartford  on  January  7,  1843,  aged 
84  years. 

He  published : 

i.  Scipio's  Reflections  on  Monroe's  View  of  the  Conduct  of  the 
Executive  on  the  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  United  States.  Connected 
with  a  Mission  to  the  French  Republic  in  the  years,  1794,  '95,  '96. 
Boston,  1798.  12°,  pp.  iii,  140.  [B.  Ath.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

The  same  with  title:  • 

Reflections  on  Monroe's  View,  of  the  Conduct  of  the  Executive, 
as  published  in  the  Gazette  of  the  United  States,  under  the  signa- 
ture of  Scipio.  In  which  the  Commercial  Warfare  of  France  is 
traced  to  the  French  Faction  in  this  Country,  as  its  Source,  and 
the  Motives  of  Opposition,  etc.  [Philadelphia,  1798?]  8°,  pp.  88. 

[B.  Ath.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

In  this  latter  form  of  Mr.  Tracy's  anonymous  newspaper  com- 
munications, five  pages  of  matter  not  contained  in  the  previous 
form  are  appended. 

2.  To  the  Freemen  of  Connecticut.     Litchfield,  6th  September, 
1803.    8°,  pp.  16.  [A.  A.  S.    Y.  C. 

An  Address  to  the  electors  on  the  political  situation,  in  Con- 
necticut and  in  the  United  States;  in  answer  to  a  Republican 
Address,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  his  classmate, 
Alexander  Wolcott. 

3.  Speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Friday,  December 
2,  1803,  on  the  passage  of  the  following  Amendment  to  the  Consti- 
tution   [respecting  the  mode  of  election  of   President  and  Vice- 
President] .  .      [Washington,  1803.]     8°,  pp.  24. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ,    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    R.  I.  H.  S. 
U.S.    Y.C.  •'••;•" 

In  opposition  to  what  was  finally  passed  as  the  I2th  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution,  on  the  ground  of  danger  to  the  small  States. 
This  speech  is  reprinted  in  E.  B.  Williston's  Eloquence  of  the 
United  States,  vol.  ii,  pp.  320-48  (Middletown,  1827),  and  in  Frank 
Moore's  American  Eloquence,  vol.  i,  pp.  432-42  (N.  Y.,  1857). 

Another  speech  in  the  Senate,  on  the  Judiciary  System,  delivered 
on  January  12,  1802,  is  also  reprinted  in  Moore,  pp.  442-46. 

5 


66  Yale  College 

Six  of  his  letters  to  the  two  Oliver  Wolcotts,  1797-1801,  are  in 
Gibbs's  Administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams;  and  three  of 
his  letters  to  Rufus  King,  1806,  in  King's  Life  and  Correspondence, 
vol.  4. 

AUTHORITIES. 

J.  Q.  Adams,  Diary,  i,  377.      Bos-  rich,  Recollections  of  a  Lifetime,  ii, 

•well,   Litchfield   Book  of   Days,   135,  92-93.      Hinman,  Conn.  Puritan  Set- 

J37-38.    Conn.  Journal,  July  29,  Aug.  tiers,  392.     Mass.  Hist.  Society's  Pro- 

5   and  12,   1807.     Gibbs,  Administra-  ceedings,    xiv,    387.     Morris,    Statist, 

tions  of  Washington  and  Adams,  i,  Account  of  Litchfield  County,  109-10. 

162,  389,  4IS-I7,  474-75,  478,  537-39;  Tracy    Genealogy,    42,    68.      Wood- 

ii,  12,  232,  399-400,  495.    5".  G.  Good-  -ward,  Hist,  of  Franklin,  Conn.,  87. 


NOAH  WEBSTER,  second  son  and  fourth  child  of  Deacon 
and  Captain  Noah  Webster,  of  (West)  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Captain  Daniel  and  Miriam 
(Cooke,  Kellogg)  Webster,  of  West  Hartford,  was  born 
in  West  Hartford,  on  October  16,  1758.  His  mother  was 
Mercy  Steele,  of  West  Hartford,  sister  of  the  Rev.  Eli- 
phalet  Steele  (Yale  1764). 

A  year  before  his  graduation  he  marched  as  a  volunteer 
in  his  father's  militia  company  against  Burgoyne,  but  was 
met  by  the  news  of  his  surrender. 

On  leaving  College  he  was  thrown  upon  his  own 
resources,  and  took  up  school-teaching,  which  he  pursued 
in  Hartford  and  the  vicinity,  reading  law  in  the  meantime, 
until  his  admission  to  the  bar  in  1781. 

As,  however,  in  the  existing  state  of  the  country  he  had 
no  encouragement  to  begin  practice,  he  resumed  the  busi- 
ness of  instruction,  and  opened  in  May,  1782,  a  select 
school  in  Sharon,  Connecticut.  Later  in  the  year  he  trans- 
ferred himself  to  Goshen,  New  York,  for  the  same  busi- 
ness, and  here,  in  a  period  of  despondency,  he  undertook 
an  employment  which  gave  a  complexion  to  his  whole 
future  life.  This  was  the  compilation  of  elementary  text- 
books for  teaching  the  English  language, — the  spelling- 
book,  grammar,  and  reading-book,  which  made  his  name 
a  household  word.  In  1783  he  returned  to  Hartford  to 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  67 

superintend  the  publication  of  these  works,  and  at  this 
time  began  also  his  career  as  a  political  writer. 

A  little  later,  in  1786,  he,.entered  the  lecture  field,  and 
delivered  in  various  cities  with  considerable  acceptance  a 
course  of  lectures  on  the  English  language. 

During  these  years  he  also  devoted  successfully  much 
of  his  time  and  energy  to  securing  the  passage  of  copy- 
right laws  in  the  various  States. 

The  year  1787  he  spent  in  Philadelphia,  as  superinten- 
dent of  an  Episcopal  academy.  Thence  he  went  to  New 
York,  to  establish  the  American  Magazine,  which,  how- 
ever, was  pecuniarily  unsuccessful  and  was  discontinued 
after  a  single  year. 

In  1789  he  settled  in  Hartford  as  a  lawyer,  and  on 
October  26  he  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of  the  Hon. 
William  and  Mary  (Brown)  Greenleaf,  of  Boston. 

In  1790  he  showed  his  interest  in  his  Alma  Mater  by 
engaging  to  give  one  copy  of  each  part  of  his  Grammati- 
cal Institute  for  every  hundred  copies  sold  henceforth  in 
Connecticut, — the  proceeds  to  constitute  an  annual  pre- 
mium for  an  Essay  written  in  competition  by  one  of  the 
College  students.  The  premium  seems  to  have  been 
awarded  for  only  five  years  (1791-95),  and  the  successful 
essayists  received  from  £4  to  £6  annually. 

His  business  proved  sufficiently  lucrative  to  support 
him  until,  in  November,  1793,  he  was  induced  to  remove 
to  New  York  City,  in  order  to  edit  in  the  Federalist  inter- 
est a  new  daily  newspaper  called  The  American  Minerva 
(subsequently  The  Commercial  Advertiser),  with  a 
semi-weekly  issue  called  The  Herald  (subsequently  The 
Spectator). 

From  this  busy  life  he  retired  to  New  Haven  in  the 
spring  of  1798,  to  devote  himself  to  private  literary  pur- 
suits. He  did  not,  however,  hold  himself  aloof  from 
public  service:  thus,  he  was  for  nine  sessions  (1800-1807) 
a  member  of  the  General  Assembly;  Councilman  of  New 
Haven,  1799-1804;  Alderman,  1806-1809;  and  Judge  of 


68  Yale  College 

the  County  Court  from  1806  to  1810.  The  first  important 
results  of  his  leisure  were  a  Compendious  English  Diction- 
ary, published  in  1806,  and  an  English  Grammar  which 
appeared  in  1807;  and  immediately  after  these  he  entered 
on  the  great  work  of  his  life,  which  had  been  long  in  con- 
templation— the  preparation  of  a  new  and  complete  Eng- 
lish dictionary. 

While  pursuing  this  task  he  removed,  from  motives  of 
economy,  to  Amherst,  Massachusetts,  in  1812,  where  he 
also  served  as  a  member  of  the  General  Court  in  1814, 
1815,  and  1817;  but  he  returned  to  New  Haven  in  1822, 
and  in  1823  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws  from  this  College. 

In  June,  1824,  he  went  abroad,  his  son  accompanying 
him,  and  spent  about  a  year  in  Paris  and  England,  for  the 
purpose  of  consulting  rare  works  and  coming  into  per- 
sonal contact  with  foreign  scholars.  He  carried  his  manu- 
scripts with  him,  and  completed  the  first  draft  of  his 
Dictionary  while  in  Cambridge,  in  January,  1825,  but  was 
not  successful  in  finding  an  English  publisher. 

On  his  return  he  made  arrangements  for  the  publication 
of  his  work  here,  and  it  appeared  at  the  close  of  1828. 
With  this  event  Dr.  Webster  considered  the  labors  of  his 
literary  life  as,  in  a  great  measure,  brought  to  an  end.  He 
continued,  however,  to  busy  himself  in  the  revision  of 
some  of  his  minor  works,  and  supervised  the  second  edi- 
tion of  his  Dictionary  in  1840-41. 

In  the  spring  of  1843  ne  revised  an  Appendix  to  his 
Dictionary  (prepared  by  his  son),  and  shortly  after  the 
printing  of  this  was  completed,  he  fell  ill  from  pneumonia, 
and  died  in  New  Haven,  quite  suddenly,  on  May  28,  1843, 
in  his  85th  year.  He  had  been  admitted  to  the  First 
Church  in  New  Haven  on  profession  of  his  faith  in  April, 
1808,  and  died  in  the  full  assurance  of  Christian  belief. 
The  Address  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  N.  W.  Taylor  at 
his  funeral  is  printed  in  a  volume  of  Essays  by  his  son-in- 
law,  Professor  W.  C.  Fowler. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  69 

His  widow  died  in  New  Haven,  after  a  long  period  of 
extreme  feebleness,  on  June  25,  1847,  m  ner  &2d  year. 
Seven  of  their  eight  children  grew  to  maturity, — six 
daughters  and  one  son.  The  eldest  daughter  was  married 
to  the  Hon.  William  W.  Ellsworth  (Yale  1810) ;  the 
second  to  Professor  Chauncey  A.  Goodrich,  of  the  same 
class;  the  third  to  Professor  William  C.  Fowler  (Yale 
1816)  ;  the  fourth  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  Horatio  Southgate 
(Bowdoin  1832) ;  and  the  fifth  to  the  Rev.  Henry  Jones 
(Yale  1820). 

In  his  person  Dr.  Webster  was  tall  and  slender  and 
remarkably  erect.  He  was  the  soul  of  honor  and  upright- 
ness in  all  his  dealings,  but  so  much  the  retired  scholar 
that  he  was  unduly  sensitive  of  supposed  encroachments 
on  the  field  of  labor  which  he  had  made  so  largely  his 
own. 

A  Memoir  by  his  son-in-law,  Professor  Goodrich,  was 
prefixed  to  the  revised  edition  of  the  Dictionary  in  1847, 
and  gives  a  clear  and  full  account  of  his  character  and 
career;  and  Mr.  Horace  E.  Scudder  contributed  a 
sprightly  and  suggestive  study  of  Webster  (302  pages, 
1 6°)  to  the  American  Men  of  Letters  Series  in  1881. 

He  published: 

i.  A  Grammatical  Institute,  of  the  English  Language,  compris- 
ing, an  easy,  concise,  and  systematic  Method  of  Education,  designed 
for  the  use  of  English  Schools  in  America. .  .  In  Three  Parts. 
Part  I.  Containing,  a  new  and  accurate  Standard  of  Pronun- 
ciation. Hartford  [1783].  12°,  pp.  120. 

[A.  A.  S.  (imperfect).    Harv. 

The  same.    Third  Edition.     Hartford,  1784.     12°.  [Harv. 

The  same.    Fourth  Edition.    Hartford,  1785.     12°,  pp.  138. 

[/.  Carter  Brown  Libr. 

The  same,  with  title, 

The  American  Spelling  Book:  containing  an  easy  Standard  of 
Pronunciation.  Being  the  First  Part  of  a  Grammatical  Institute 
of  the  English  Language.  .  Thomas  and  Andrews's  First  Edition. 
Boston  (Worcester),  1789.  12°,  pp.  144.  [A.  A.  S. 


70  Yale  College 

The  same.  Thomas  &  Andrews'  Twenty-fourth  Edition.  Bos- 
ton, 1802.  12°,  pp.  156.  [Y.  C. 

The  more  modern  editions  are  countless.  It  is  computed  that 
more  than  eighty  million  copies  were  sold  before  1880. 

2.  A  Grammatical  Institute,  of  the  English  Language.  .  .  Part  II. 
Containing,  A  plain  and  comprehensive  Grammar.  . .  .     Hartford, 
1784.    12°,  pp.  139. 

[A.  A.  S.    Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same  [2d  Edition].    Hartford,  1785.     12°,  pp.  139. 

[A.  A.  S.    J.  Carter  Brawn  Libr.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

The  same.  The  Third  Edition,  revised  and  amended.  Philadel- 
phia, 1787.  12°,  pp.  132.  [Brit.  Mus.  N.  Y.  Society  Libr.  Y.  C. 

The  same.    4th  Edition.    Hartford  [1787].     12°. 

[B.  Ath.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.  (incomplete). 

The  same.  Thomas  &  Andrews  ist  edition.  Boston,  1790.  16°, 
pp.  125.  [Harv.  U.  S. 

The  same.  Thomas  and  Andrews's  Second  Edition.  Boston, 
1792.  12°,  pp.  120.  [Harv.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

The  same.  The  third  Connecticut  Edition.  Hartford,  1792.  12°, 
pp.  131.  [Brit.  Mus.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

In  this  edition  the  Appendix  is  enlarged  and  rewritten. 

There  are  many  later  editions.  Though  not  so  enormously  pop- 
ular as  the  Spelling  Book,  the  grammar  was  much  used,  and 
deserved  well  from  its  originality  and  aptness ;  it  was  mainly  dis- 
placed by  Lindley  Murray's  Abridgement  of  his  English  Grammar, 
first  published  in  1818, 

3.  A  Grammatical   Institute  of  the  English  Language...     Part 
III.     Containing  the  necessary  Rules  of  reading  and  speaking,  and 
a  Variety  of  Essays,  Dialogues,   and  declamatory   Pieces,   moral, 
political  and  entertaining..  .     Hartford,  1785.     12°,  pp.  186. 

[Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     U.  S. 
Y.  C. 

The  same.     2d  edition.     Hartford  [1785].     12°. 

[L.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

The  same  with  new  title : — 

An  American  Selection  of  Lessons  in  Reading  and  Speaking... 
Being  The  Third  Part  of  a  Grammatical  Institute  of  the  English 
Language.  Philadelphia,  1787.  12°,  pp.  372.  [Brit.  Mus.  U.  S. 

The  same.  Thomas  &  Andrews  First  Edition.  Boston,  1790. 
12°,  pp.  239.  [U.  S. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  71 

Many  later  editions;  in  1835  with  new  title,  Instructive  and 
Entertaining  Lessons  for  Youth,  (pp.  252.) 

4.  Sketches  of  American  Policy..  .     Hartford,  1785.    8°,  pp.  48. 
[B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    N.-Y.  Publ.  Libr.    Watkinson  Libr. 

Y.  C. 

This  is  said  to  contain  "the  first  distinct  proposal  made  through 
the  medium  of  the  press,  for  a  new  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,"  and  the  first  strong  plea  for  a  national  government  for 
this  country. 

5.  An  Examination  into  the  Leading  Principles  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  proposed  by  the  late  Convention  held  at  Philadelphia. 
With  Answers  to  the  Principal  Objections  that  have  been  raised 
against  the  system.    By  a  Citizen  of  America.     Philadelphia,  1787. 

8°,  PP.  55- 

[/.  Carter  Brown  Libr.  Harv.  L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 
U.  S.  Watkinson  Libr.  Y.  C. 

Reprinted  in  1888  in  a  volume  of  Pamphlets  on  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  edited  by  his  great-grandson,  Paul  Leicester 
Ford. 

6.  Attention!   or,  New  Thoughts  on  a  serious  Subject:   being  an 
Enquiry  into  the  Excise  Laws  of  Connecticut;    addressed  to  the 
Freemen  of  the  State. — By  a  Private  Citizen.    Hartford,  1789.    8°, 
pp.  18.     [M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     Watkinson  Libr.      Y.  C. 

7.  Dissertations  on  the  English  Language :    with  Notes. . .     To 
which  is  added,  by  way  of  Appendix,  an  Essay  "on  a  Reformed 
Mode  of  Spelling..  .     Boston,  1789.    8°,  pp.  410. 

[A.  A.  S.  A.  C.  A.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Brit.  Mus.  Brown. 
Harv.  M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

8.  A  Collection  of  Essays  and   Fugitiv  Writings.     On   Moral, 
Historical,    Political    and   Literary    Subjects.      Boston,    1790.     -8°, 
pp.  xvi,  414. 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Bowdoin  Coll.  Brit.  Mus.  Broivn. 
Harv.  M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.  U.  S. 
U.  T.  S.  Y.  C. 

With  interesting  list  of  subscribers. 

9.  The   Little  Reader's  Assistant;    containing  I.  A  number  of 
Stories,  mostly  taken  from  the  history  of  America,  and  adorned 
with  Cuts.     II.  Rudiments  of  English  Grammar.     III.  A  Federal 
Catechism,  being  a  short  and  easy  explanation  of  the  Constitution 


72  Yale  College 

of  the  United  States.     IV.  General  principles  of  Government  and 
Commerce..  .     Hartford,  1790.     16°,  pp.  48,  80,  13. 

The  same.  The  second  edition.  [With  the  addition  of  V.  The 
Farmer's  Catechizm.]  Hartford,  1791.  16°,  pp.  141. 

[A.  A.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.  The  third  edition.  [With  the  addition  of  a  section 
On  a  Reform  of  Spelling.]  Northampton,  1791.  16°,  pp.  137. 

[A.  A.  S.  (imperfect). 

The  second  section  of  this  work,  Rudiments  of  English  Grammar, 
also  appears  separately,  both  as  an  extract  from  the  above  editions, 
and  with  later  dates. 

10.  The  Prompter:    or  a  Commentary  on  Common  Sayings  and 
Subjects,  which  are  full  of  Common  Sense,  the  best  Sense  in  the 
World.    Hartford,  1791.     12°,  pp.  94.  [B.  Publ.    Harv. 

The  same.    Boston,  1792.    12°,  pp.  96.    [Brit.  Mus.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

Anonymous;  many  later  editions.  The  most  of  the  volume  had 
been  already  contributed  to  the  Connecticut  C  our  ant;  it  was  repub- 
lished  in  London,  with  the  title:  Sentimental  and  Humourous 
Essays,  conducive  to  economy  and  happiness.  Drawn  from  Com- 
mon Sayings  and  Subjects...  In  the  Manner  of  Dr.  Franklin. 
London  [Tewkesbury],  1799.  18°,  pp.  72. 

[Brit.  Mus.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 

11.  Effects  of  Slavery,  on  Morals  and  Industry.    Hartford,  1793. 
8°,  pp.  56. 

[A.  A.  S.     A.  C.  A.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.     Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    R.  I.  H.  S.      U.  S.      IVatkinson  Libr.      Y.  C. 

12.  The  Revolution  in  France,  considered  in  respect  to  its  Prog- 
ress and  Effects. — By  an  American.     New-York,  1794.    8°,  pp.  72. 

[B.  Ath.    J.  Carter  Brown  Libr.    Harv.    IVatkinson  Libr.    Y.  C. 

Remarkable  for  its  wisdom  and  foresight. 

13.  A  Collection  of  Papers  on  the  subject  of   Bilious   Fevers, 
prevalent  in  the  United  States  for  a  few  years  past. — Compiled  by 
Noah  Webster,  Jun. .  .     New- York,  1796.     8°,  pp.  x,  ix,  246. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.       IVatkinson  Libr.     Y.  C. 

14.  A  Letter  to  the  Governors,  Instructors  and  Trustees  of  the 
Universities,  and  other  Seminaries  of  Learning,  in  the  United  States, 
on  the  Errors  of  English  Grammars.    New- York,  1798.    8°,  pp.  36. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.      B.  Publ.      Brit.  Mus.      Harv.     U.  T.  S. 
IVatkinson  Libr.     Y.  C. 


or  THI 
UNIVERSITY 

or 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  73 

15.  An  Oration  pronounced  before  the  Citizens  of  New-Haven 
on  the  Anniversary  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States,  July 
4th-  1798...     New-Haven.     [1798.]     8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  C.  A.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mns.     C.  H.  S.     Harv.     M.  H.  S. 
Watkinson  Libr.     Y.  C. 

16.  A   brief   History   of   Epidemic   and   Pestilential   Diseases... 
Hartford,  1799.     2  vols.     8°,  pp.  348;    352. 

[Brit.  Mus.      L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.      M.  H.  S.      N.  Y.  Publ,  Libr. 
N  Y.  Soc.  Libr.      Y.  C. 

17.  Ten  Letters  to  Dr.  Joseph  Priestly,  in  answer  to  his  Letters 
to  the  Inhabitants  of  Northumberland.     New  Haven,    1800.     8°, 
pp.  29. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     Watkinson  Libr.     Y.  C. 

Mainly  in  criticism  of  Priestley's  comments  on  American  polity. 

18.  A  Rod  for  the  Fool's  Back.     [New  Haven,  1800.]     8°,  pp.  10. 

[Y.  C. 

The  same.    1800.    12°,  pp.  12.  [Y.  C. 

The  same.    New  Haven,  1800.    8°,  pp.  n.  [Y.  C.- 

A  scathing  anonymous  review  of  the  Oration  by  his  classmate 
Bishop,  delivered  in  New  Haven  in  September,  1800. 

19.  A  Letter  to  General  Hamilton,  occasioned  by  his  Letter  to 
President  Adams. — By  a  Federalist.      (Signed,  Aristides.)      1800. 
8°,  pp.  10.  \B.  Ath.    Harv.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     Y.  C. 

20.  Miscellaneous    Papers,    on    Political    and    Commercial    Sub- 
jects.— I.  An  Address  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  on  the 
subject  of  his   administration.     II.  An  Essay,   on  the  Rights  of 
Neutral  Nations..  .    III.  A  Letter,  on  the  value  and  importance  of 
the  American  Commerce  to  Great-Britain.     IV.  A  Sketch  of  the 
history  and  present  state  of  Banks  and  Insurance  Companies,  in  the 
United  States.    New-York,  1802.    8°,  pp.  viii,  227,  48. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     Y.  C. 

The  last  section  of  this  work,  which  has  a  separate  paging,  was 
probably  also  published  separately;  and  the  same  may  be  true  of 
some  of  the  other  sections. 

The  second  section  is  specially  valuable. 


74  Yale  College 

21.  An  Oration,  pronounced  before  the  citizens  of  New  Haven, 
on   the   Anniversary   of   the   Declaration   of    Independence ;    July, 
1802.    .  .    New  Haven,   1802.     8°,  pp.  30. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

22.  Elements  of  Useful  Knowledge.    Hartford  and  New  Haven, 
1802-12.     4  vols.    12°. 

(Vols.  i,  2,  Containing  a  Historical  and  Geographical  Account 
of  the  United  States ;  Vol.  3,  Containing  a  Historical  and  Geograph- 
ical Account  of  .  .  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa ;  Vol.  4,  History  of 
Animals.)  [F.  C. 

23.  An  Address  to  the  Citizens  of  Connecticut.     [New  Haven, 
1803.]    8°,  pp.  24.  [N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

Signed  "Chatham."  Called  out  by  the  invitations  issued  to  a 
Republican  Festival  to  be  held  in  New  Haven  on  March  9,  1803.  . 

24.  A    Compendious    Dictionary    of    the   English   Language    . . 
New-Haven,  1806.     12°,  pp.  xxiv,  408. 

[B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

25.  An  Address,  to  the  Freemen  of  Connecticut    Hartford,  1806. 
8°,  pp.  7.  [Y.C. 

Anonymous ;  authorized  by  a  Meeting  of  Federalists  at  Hartford, 
May  24,  1806. 

26.  A    Philosophical    and    Practical    Grammar    of    the    English 
Language.     New-Haven,  1807.     12°,  pp.  250. 

[B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.      Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.      N.  Y.  H.  S. 
U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.     Second  edition.    New  Haven,  1822.     12°,  pp.  223. 

[Harv. 

27.  A   Letter   to   Dr.   David   Ramsay,   of   Charleston,    (S.    C.) 
respecting  the  Errors  in  Johnson's  Dictionary,  and  other  Lexicons. 
New-Haven,  1807.     12°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.      Brit.  Mus.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     Y.  C. 

28.  The    Peculiar    Doctrines    of    the    Gospel,    explained    and 
defended. — From  the -Panoplist  and  Missionary  Magazine  United. 
[New- York,  1809?]  '  8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    Watkinson  Libr.    Y.  C. 

The  same.     Poughkeepsie,  1809.     8°,  pp.  15. 

[N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.      Watkinson  Libr. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  75 

The  same.    Third  Edition.    Portland,  1811.     12°,  pp.  50. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.      B.  Publ.      Brit.  Mus. 
N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    U.  S. 

29.  An    Oration,    pronounced    before    the    Knox    and    Warren 
Branches  of  the  Washington  Benevolent  Society,  at  Amherst,  on 
the  celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, July  4,  1814.     Northampton,  1814.    8°,  pp.  32. 

[B  Ath.    Harv.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    Watkinson  Libr.    Y.  C. 

A  Federalist  view  of  the  lamentable  situation  of  the  country. 

30.  A  Letter  to  the  Honorable  John  Pickering,  on  the  subject  of 
his  Vocabulary;   or,  Collection  of  Words  and  Phrases,  supposed  to 
be  peculiar  to  the  United  States  of  America.     Boston,  1817.     8°, 
pp.  60. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.     Harv.     N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr. 
Y.  C. 

31.  An  Address,  delivered  before  the  Hampshire,  Franklin  and 
Hampden  Agricultural  Society,  at  their  Annual  Meeting  in  North- 
ampton, Oct.  14,  1818.    Northampton,  1818.    8°,  pp.  28. 

[B.  Ath.      Watkinson  Libr.      U.  S. 

Setting  forth  the  advantages  of  agriculture,  with  practical  sug- 
gestions ;  and  also  advocating  attention  to  manufactures. 

32.  Letter  on  the  Commerce  and  Currency  of  the  United  States. 
By  Aristides.    New  York,  1819.    8°.  [L.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

33.  An  Address,  delivered  at  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  of 
the  building  now  erecting  for  the  Charity  Institution  in  Amherst, 
August  9,  1820.     Boston,  1820.     8°,  pp.  7. 

[A.  A.  S.     A.   C.  A.       B    Ath.       Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ. 
C.  H.  S.    Harv.    U.  T.  S.     Watkinson  Libr.      Y.  C. 

Published,  with  the  Sermon  on  the  same  occasion  by  Rev.  D.  A. 
Clark,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled,  A  Plea  for  a  miserable  world.  Mr. 
Webster  was  the  Vice  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Amherst  Academy,  and  afterwards  the  first  President  of  the  Trus- 
tees of  Amherst  College,  which  grew  out  of  this  Academy. 

34.  Letters  to  a  Young  Gentleman  commencing  his  education: 
to  which  is  subjoined  a  brief  History  of  the  United  States.     New- 
Haven,  1823.    8°,  pp.. 335. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv. 
Y.  C. 


76  Yale  College 

35.  An  American  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language  . .   New 
Haven,  1828.    2  volumes.    4°. 

[A.  C.  A.  Andover  Theol.  Sem.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ 
Bowdoin  Coll.  Brown.  Harv.  L.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

The  same.     London,    1832.     2   volumes.     4°. 
The  same.     2d  edition.     New  Haven,  1841.     2  volumes.     8°. 
1  The  same.     3d  edition.     Springfield,  1847.     4°- 

Numerous  subsequent  editions,  and  abridgements. 

36.  Biography,  for  the  use  of  schools.     New  Haven,  1830.     16°, 
pp.  214.  [Brit.  Mus.     U.  S. 

37.  Series  of  Books  for  Systematic  Instruction  in  the  English 
Language.     [New  Haven,  1830.]     8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    Y.  C. 

This  prospectus  was  also  issued  in  a  second  edition,  with  changes, 
in  1831.    8°,  pp.  16.  [F.  C. 

38.  An   Improved   Grammar   of   the   English    Language.     New 
Haven,  1831.     12°,  pp.  192.  [B.  Publ.     Y.  C. 

39.  Philology.     [From  the  New-England  Magazine  for  Novem- 
ber, 1831.]     Boston.    8°,  pp.  12. 

40.  To  the  Friends  of  American  Literature.     [1831.]     8°,  pp.  8. 

[Y.  C. 

An  anonymous  criticism  of  Lyman  Cobb,  a  rival  maker  of  school- 
books. 

41.  History  of  the  United   States    .  .    New-Haven,    1832.      12°, 
pp.  356.  [A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    Y.  C. 

42.  The  Holy  Bible,,  .in  the  Common  Version.     With  Amend- 
ments of  the  language.     New  Haven,  1833.    8°,  pp.  xvi,  907. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    R.  I.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

Republished,  in  smaller  size,  in  1841. 

43.  Value  of  the  Bible,  and  Excellence  of  the  Christian  Religion : 
for  the  use  of  Families  and  Schools.     New   Haven,   1834.      12°, 
pp.  180.  [Brit.  Mus.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 

44.  Genealogy. — Family  of  John  Webster.     New  Haven,   1836. 
8°,  pp.  8.  [A.  A.  S.     B.  Publ. 

Compiled  and  printed  for  presentation  only. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  77 

45.  A  Letter  to  the  Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  on  the  political  affairs 
of   the    United    States. — By    Marcellus.      Philadelphia,    1837.      8°, 
pp.  34.  [Harv.    N.  Y.  Publ  Libr.     Y.  C. 

V, 

46.  Mistakes   and   Corrections. — i.  Improprieties   and   errors   in 
the  common  version  of  the  Scriptures  .  .     2.  Explanations  of  prep- 
ositions  .  .     3.  Errors  in  English  Grammars.     4.  Mistakes  in  the 
Hebrew    Lexicon   of    Gesenius,   and   in   some   derivations   of   Dr. 
Horwitz.    5.  Errors  in  Butter's  Scholar's  Companion,  and  in  Town's 
Analysis.      6.  Errors   in    Richardson's   Dictionary.      New    Haven, 
1837.    8°,  pp.  28.  [B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.     Y.  C. 

47.  The    Teacher:     a    Supplement   to   the   Elementary    Spelling 
Book.    New  Haven,  1837.     12°,  pp.  156.  [U.  T.  S. 

A  collection  of  miscellaneous  information,  the  most  elaborate  por- 
tions being  the  explanations  of  prefixes  and  affixes  and  lists  of 
derivatives  from  Latin  and  Greek. 

48.  A  Brief  View     i.  Of  Errors  and  Obscurities  in  the  common 
version  of  the  Scriptures   .  .     2.  Of  Errors  and  Defects  in  class- 
books  used  in   seminaries  of  learning    .  .     To  which   are   added, 
3.  A  few  Plagiarisms,  showing  the  way  in  which  books  may  be 
made,  by  those  who  use  borrowed  capital.     [New  Haven,  1839.] 
8°,  pp.  24. 

[Brit.  Mus.    N.  Y.  Public  Libr.     U.  S.      Watkinson  Libr.    Y.  C. 

49.  A  Manual  of  Useful  Studies:    for  the  instruction  of  young 
persons  of  both  sexes  in  Families  and  Schools.     New  Haven,  1839. 
12°,  pp.  248.  [Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 

Also,  later  editions. 

50.  Observations   on   Language,   and  on   the   Errors   of   Class- 
Books ;  addressed  to  the  Members  of  the  New  York  Lyceum.    Also, 
Observations  on  Commerce,  addressed  to  the  Members  of  the  Mer- 
cantile  Library   Association,   in   New   York.     New   Haven,    1839. 
12°,  pp.  39. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.      Watkinson  Libr.    Y.  C. 

Prepared  in  response  to  invitations  to  deliver  lectures. 

51.  State  of  English  Philology.      [Part  of  a  pamphlet  entitled, 
Commendations  of  Dr.  N.  Webster's  Books.     1841  ?]     8°,  pp.  30. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ      Y.  C. 

52.  A  Collection  of  Papers  on  Political,  Literary  and  Moral  Sub- 
jects.   New  York  [New  Haven],  1843.    8°,  pp.  iv,  4,  373. 

[A.  C.  A.  B.  Ath.  Brit.  Mus.  Harv.  L.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.  Peabody  Inst.,  Baltimore.  U.  S.  U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 


78  Yale  College 

Including  a  reprint  of  many  of  his  previous  papers. 

While  editor  of  The  American  Magazine  and  The  American 
Minerva  he  contributed  to  these  papers  anonymously  many  series 
of  essays,  sorrie  of  which  were  subsequently  separately  printed. 

Of  many  other  contributions  to  periodical  literature,  the  fol- 
lowing may  be  specified  : — 

In  The  Nczv-York  Magazine,  vol.  I,  pp.  338-40,  383-84,  June- 
July,  1790:— 

A  Short  View  of  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Science  of 
Natural  Philosophy;  with  some  Observations  on  the  Advantages 
of  Science  in  general.  Delivered  at  the  public  Examination  of  the 
Candidates  for  the  first  Degree,  in  the  Chapel  of  Yale  College,  23d 
July,  1778. 

In  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol. 
2,  part  i,  pp.  178-85.    Boston,  1793 : — 
On  the  Theory  of  Vegetation. 

In  the  same,  vol.  3,  pt.  i,  pp.  95-103.     Cambridge,  1809: — 
Experiments  respecting  Dew. 

In  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  for  the 
year  1794,  vol.  3,  pp.  4-6:— 

Bill  of  Mortality.  With  Remarks  on  the  history  of  the  town  of 
Hartford,  in  Connecticut. 

In  Memoirs  of  the  Connecticut  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
vol.  i,  Part  i,  pp.  1-68;  97-98;  135-36;  175-216.  New-Haven, 
1810:— 

A  Dissertation  on  the  supposed  Change  in  the  Temperature  of 
Winter;  Number  of  Deaths,  in  the  Episcopal  Church  in  New- 
York,  in  each  month,.  .  1786-1795  ;  On  the  Decomposition  of  White 
Lead  Paint;  Origin  of  Mythology. 

Twelve  articles,  signed  Curtius,  mainly  from  his  pen,  relating  to 
Jay's  Treaty,  and  entitled, 

Vindication  of  the  Treaty  of  Amity,  Commerce,  and  Navigation, 
with  Great  Britain,  were  republished  (pages  58-108)  in  the  volume), 

Treaty  of  Amity,  Commerce,  and  Navigation,  between  His 
Britannic  Majesty,  and  the  United  States  of  America  .  .  To  which 
is  annexed  a  Copious  Appendix.  Second  Edition.  Philadelphia, 
1795.  8°.  [U.S.  Y.  C. 

Express  mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  following  work 
edited  by  him  : — 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  79 

\ 

A  Journal  of  the  Transactions  and  Occurrences  in  the  settle- 
ment of  Massachusetts  and  the  other  New-England  Colonies,  from 
the  year  1630  to  1644;  written  by  John  Winthrop,  Esq.,  First 
Governor  of  Massachusetts :  and  now  first  published  from  a  cor- 
rect copy  of  the  original  Manuscript.  Hartford,  1790.  8°,  pp.  v, 
364,  iv. 

Thirty-seven  of  his  letters  to  the  Hon.  Timothy  Pickering,  1785- 
1808,  are  calendared  in  the  collection  of  Pickering  Papers  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


AUTHORITIES. 

American  Ancestry,  viii,  205.  Amer-  Hist.,  x,  52-56.    Mass.  Hist.  Society's 

ican    Historical    Magazine,    ed.    W.  Collections,  5th  Series,  iii,  23,  59,  69, 

Storer,  22-23,  119-20,  159-60.     Atlan-  71-72,  83-86,  88-94,  97,    101-03,   "7, 

tic  Monthly,  xxxvi,  330-39.    Barnard's  231-33,   238-40.     New   Englander,   i, 

American  Journal  of  Education,  xiii,  565-68.    Pickering,  Life  of  T.  Pick- 

123-25.     Buckingham,   Specimens  of  ering,  i,  479-80,  529-31,  535-37.     The 

Newspaper  Literature  and  Reminis-  Repository,  ed.  W.  H.  Starr,  ii,  17-18. 

cences,  ii,  165.    Congregational  Quar-  Selections  from  Porcupine's  Gazette, 

terly,  vii,  1-16.     Conn.  Journal,  June  vi,  278-81,  376,  428-30.    Sparks,  Cor- 

4,   1800.      Connecticut  Magazine,  vii,  respondence    of    the    Revolution,    iv, 

150-61.     W.   C.  Fowler,  Essays,  62-  111-12.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 

71.      Goodwin,    Genealogical    Notes,  ii,  284,  288;   iii,  226-30,  249,  382,  494. 

249.     Historical    Magazine,    iii,    119.  £.  S.  Thomas,  Reminiscences,  ii,  168- 

/.   Jay,   Correspondence,    iv,   372-74,  71.     Tyler,  Hist,  of  Amherst  College, 

455-59-    Johnston,  Yale  in  the  Revo-  107-09.     Wells,  Life  of  Sam.  Adams, 

lution,  13,  77,  341.    Lippincott's  Mag-  iii,  207-08.    Wolcott  Memorial,  235. 
azine,  v,  448-52.     Magazine  of  Amer. 


JOHN  WELCH  was  born  in  Milton  Society  in  Litchfield, 
Connecticut,  on  September  23,  1759. 

During  his  College  course  he  saw  some  service  in  the 
Revolutionary  army. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town,  without  following  a  pro- 
fession, and  there  married,  on  November  8,  1784,  Rosanna 
Peebles. 

He  was  one  of  the  representatives  of  Litchfield  in  the 
General  Assembly  in  1799-1801,  and  again  in  1819-22. 
He  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  County  Court  in  1819, 
and  held  that  office  until  disqualified  by  age  in  1829.  He 
sustained  the  reputation  of  a  careful  and  impartial  judge. 
In  1825,  1826,  and  1827,  he  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate. 


8o  Yale  College 

He  died  in  Litchfield  on  December  26,  1844,  in  his  86th 
year, — the  last  survivor  of  his  class.  His  children  were 
six  sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  two  sons  and  a 
daughter  survived  him. 

His  wife  died  on  March  22,  1830,  aged  64  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hist,  of  Litchfield  County,  1881,  Revolution,  663.  Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 
27-28.  Payne,  Litchfield  Inscriptions,  ary  Diary,  ii,  286.  Woodruff,  Litch- 
191.  Record  of  Conn.  Men  in  the  field  Genealogical  Records,  235. 


ICHABOD  WETMORE,  Junior,  the  eldest  child  and  only 
son  of  Captain  Ichabod  Wetmore,  of  Middletown,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Jeremiah  and  Abigail  (Butler) 
Wetmore,  of  Middletown,  was  born  on  February  12,  1759. 
His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  eldest  child  of  Jonathan  Starr, 
of  New  London,  Connecticut,  and  a  niece  of  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Samuel  Seabury  (Yale  1748). 

He  died  in  Middletown  on  August  9,  1785,  aged  26^2 
years,  and  was  buried  in  the  Riverside  Cemetery  in  that 
city. 

He  was  engaged  at  the  time  of  his  death  to  be  married 
to  Mary,  elder  daughter  of  Richard  and  Mary  .(Wright) 
Alsop,  of  Middletown,  and  sister  of  Richard  Alsop,  the 
poet,  and  herself  a  lady  of  marked  literary  ability.  She 
remained  faithful  to  her  early  lover,  and  at  her  death,  on 
May  28,  1855,  at  the  age  of  93,  by  her  request  her  remains 
were  laid  by  his  side. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Starr  Family,  86.     Wetmore  Family,  444,  452. 


ALEXANDER  WOLCOTT  was  born  in  Windsor,  Connecti- 
cut, on  September  15,  1758,  being  the  fifth  son  and  eighth 
child  of  Dr.  Alexander  Wolcott  (Yale  1731)  by  his  third 
wife,  Mary  (Richards).  His  classmate,  Oliver  Wolcott, 
was  a  first  cousin. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  81 

He  studied  law  and  settled  in  Windsor  as  an  attorney, 
though  he  appears  to  have  been  temporarily  residing  in 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  atx-the  time  of  his  marriage 
there,  in  September,  1785,  to  Frances,  eldest  child  of  Abra- 
ham Burbank  (Yale  1759),  of  West  Springfield. 

He  was  strongly  Anti-Federalist  in  politics,  and  served 
as  a  representative  of  Windsor  in  the  General  Assembly 
in  five  sessions  between  May,  1796,  and  May,  1801. 

His- wife  died  in  Windsor  on  June  17,  1800,  in  her  35th 
year,  after  which  he  removed  to  Middletown,  Connecti- 
cut, where  President  Jefferson  in  August,  1801,  made  him 
Collector  of  the  Port, — an  office  which  he  retained  through 
his  life,  and  in  which  he  was  succeeded  by  his  elder  son. 

He  was  a  conspicuous  leader  of  the  Democrats  in  Con- 
necticut, and  was  nominated  for  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  by  President  Madison  in  1810  (in  default 
of  more  prominent  legal  talent  among  his  adherents  in 
New  England),  but  the  Senate  refused  to  confirm  him. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention 
of  1818. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  engaged  in  woolen  manufactur- 
ing, and  to  have  been  interested  in  the  promotion  of  that 
industry. 

He  married  secondly,  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  on 
June  7,  1807,  Lucy  Waldo,  of  Boston,  the  second  daughter 
of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  Waldo  (Harvard  1743)  and 
Sarah  (Erving)  Waldo,  of  Portland,  Maine.  <t 

He  died  in  Middletown  on  June  26,  1828,  in  his  7Oth 
year.  His  widow  died  in  Boston,  on  September  10,  1839, 
aged  73  years. 

His  children,  by  his  first  wife,  were  two  daughters  and 
two  sons, — the  younger  son  being  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1809. 

A  political  admirer,  the  Hon.  John  M.  Niles,  says  of 
him: — 

Mr.  Wolcott  possessed  a  highly  original  character.  A  gigantic 
stature,  marked  with  prominent  and  intelligent  features,  with  a 

6 


82  Yale  College 

mind  not  less  gigantic,  gave  him  a  commanding  personal  dignity, 
inspiring  respect  without  exciting  awe,  of  which  there  are  few 
examples.  His  mind  was  profound  rather  than  brilliant,  and, 
although  slow  in  its  operations,  it  possessed  great  energy  and 
strength;  but  a  striking,  peculiar  originality  was  its  characteristic 
feature.  In  independence  of  character  and  unshaken  firmness  of 
purpose  he  has  been  surpassed  by  few,  and  such  was  the  clearness 
and  force  of  truth  on  his  mind,  that  he  could  never  resort  to  any 
other  means  than  fair  argument  and  conviction  .  . 

He    is    supposed    to    have    been    the    author    of    the 
following : — 

Republican  Address  to  the  Freemen  of  Connecticut.     1803.     8°, 
pp.  16.  [B.  Ath.     Y.  C. 

Dated,  August  30,  1803,  and  signed,  by  order  of  the  General  Com- 
mittee of  the  Republicans  of  Connecticut,  by  Levi  Ives,  Jun.,  Clerk. 


AUTHORITIES. 

H.  Adams,  Hist,  of  the  U.  S.,  v,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  811,  816.  Wal- 
359-60.  Lincoln,  Waldo  Genealogy,  worth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i,  226;  ii, 
i,  186,  312-13.  N.  E.  Hist,  and  Gen-  1121.  Wolcott  Memorial,  140,  211-12. 
eal.  Register,  xxx,  196.  Stiles,  Hist. 


OLIVER  WOLCOTT,,  elder  son  of  Governor  Oliver  Wolcott 
(Yale  1747),  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  on  Jan- 
uary n,  1760. 

An  interesting  fragment  of  autobiography  which  has 
been  preserved  tells  us  that  his  preparation  for  College 
was  conducted  by  Nathaniel  B.  Beckwith  (Yale  1766), 
and  describes  his  visit  to  New  Haven  in  1773  for  examin- 
ation for  admission.  Owing  to  his  youth  his  entrance  to 
Yale  was  delayed  for  another  year.  While  in  College  he 
turned  out  with  the  militia  to  repel  the  British  in  their 
raid  on  Danbury. 

Upon  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  Litchfield 
under  Judge  Tapping  Reeve.  In  the  summer  of  1779  he 
acted  as  a  volunteer  aid  to  his  father  in  his  capacity  as 
Major-General  of  the  Connecticut  troops,  and  later  held 
a  quartermaster's  commission. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  83 

At  his  coming  of  age,  in  January,  1781,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  and  then  removed  to  Hartford,  where  to  defray 
his  expenses  he  accepted  a  clerkship  in  the  office  of  the 
Committee  of  the  Pay-Table:' 

At  Commencement,  in  September,  1781,  he  was  elected 
to  a  tutorship  in  College,  but  he  declined  the  position. 

His  diligence  in  office  attracted  the  notice  of  some  of  the 
leaders  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  led  to  his  being  made, 
in  January,  1782,  a  member  of  the  Committee  to  which  he 
had  been  Clerk.  To  this  duty  was  added  in  May,  1784, 
an  appointment  as  a  Commissioner  (with  Oliver  Ells- 
worth) for  the  settlement  of  the  accounts  and  claims  of 
Connecticut  against  the  United  States, — a  task  which  con- 
tinued through  several  years. 

In  the  meantime  he  married,  on  June  I,  1785,  Elizabeth, 
only  daughter  of  Captain  John  Stoughton  (Yale  1755), 
of  Windsor,  Connecticut,  and  step-daughter  of  Colonel 
Samuel  Wyllys  (Yale  1758),  of  Hartford. 

In  May,  1788,  a  Comptroller  of  Public  Accounts  super- 
seded the  Committee  of  Pay-Table,  and  Wolcott  was 
promoted  to  this  office  and  charged  with  the  duty  of 
re-arranging  the  financial  methods  of  the  State. 

A  broader  field  was  opened  to  him  in  September,  1789, 
when  the  Treasury  Department  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment was  organized  and  he  was  offered  the  post  of  Audi- 
tor, under  Alexander  Hamilton  as  Secretary.  He  entered 
on  the  duties  of  this  office  in  New  York  in  November,  and 
discharged  them  with  such  efficiency  that  when  a  vacancy 
occurred  in  the  next  higher  post  of  Comptroller,  he  was 
advanced  (in  June,  1791)  to  that  rank.  A -few  months 
later,  when  the  United  States  Bank  was  organized,  he 
was  offered  the  Presidency,  with  an  ample  salary,  but 
declined,  "preferring  the  public  service,  and  believing  that 
such  a  station  would  be  deemed  unsuitable  for  a  young 
man  without  property." 

Finally,  on  the  resignation  of  Hamilton,  he  was  made 
(in  February,  1795),  in  recognition  of  his  diligent  and 


84  Yale  College 

faithful  service,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  served 
through  Washington's  administration,  and  was  continued 
in  office  by  President  Adams,  though  there  was  no  strong 
bond  between  them.  When  the  question  of  a  new  Presi- 
dential election  came  up  in  1800,  Mr.  Wolcott  was,  from 
his  experience  of  Adams'  qualities,  unable  to  support  his 
candidacy,  and  was  through  his  friendship  with  Hamil- 
ton drawn  into  such  an  attitude  of  criticism  and  virtual 
opposition  that  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  resign  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1800  the  office  which  he  had  filled  with 
unimpeachable  ability  and  integrity.  As  he  had  been 
censured  by  partisan  animosity  for  his  conduct  of  the  pub- 
lic business,  he  requested,  in  view  of  his  resignation,  an 
investigation  of  the  affairs  of  the  Department,  the  result 
of  which  was  completely  favorable. 

He  had  the  satisfaction  of  going  out  of  office  poorer  than 
when  he  entered  the  service  of  the  government;  and  the 
necessities  of  his  family  required  that  he  should  at  once 
engage  in  some  active  employment. 

Early  in  February,  1801,  he  left  Washington  for 
Middletown,  Connecticut,  whither  his  family  had  preceded 
him.  On  the  i8th  of  the  same  month  President  Adams 
unexpectedly  nominated  him  as  one  of  the  Circuit  Judges 
(for  the  district  of  New  York,  Connecticut,  and  Vermont) 
under  the  new  Judiciary  Act,  and  he  was  unanimously 
confirmed  by  the  Senate,  though  a  large  proportion  of  its 
members  were  his  political  opponents. 

He  accepted  the  appointment  and  filled  the  office  until 
its  abolition,  by  the  repeal  of  the  Act  wrhich  created  it,  in 
March,  1802;  on  which  he  removed  to  New  York  City, 
and  took  the  headship  of  a  large  business  house,  with  a 
capital  of  $100,000.  In  April,  1803,  the  Merchants'  Bank, 
a  joint  stock  corporation,  was  organized,  and  he  was 
elected  its  President;  but  he  resigned  this  office  in  June, 
1804. 

In  1807  he  presented  the  College  with  $2,000,  which 
was  assigned  to  the  Library  funds. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  85 

In  1812  -he  embarked  nearly  all  his  capital  in  establish- 
ing the  Bank  of  America,  of  which  he  was  chosen  first 
President,  and  this  office  fre  filled  until  1814,  when  he 
resigned  in  consequence  of  political  differences  between 
himself  and  the  directors.  About  this  time  he  began,  in 
connection  with  his  brother,  extensive  manufacturing 
establishments  at  Wolcottville,  near  Litchfield. 

In  the  conduct  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain  he  sepa- 
rated himself  from  most  of  his  former  party  associates  by 
actively  supporting  the  government. 

In  July,  1815,  he  returned  to  his  native  town,  and  occu- 
pied himself  there  with  agriculture. 

In  February,  1816,  he  was  nominated  for  the  office  of 
Governor  of  Connecticut  (which  his  father  and  grand- 
father had  held)  by  the  Democratic  party,  though  known 
to  be  a  moderate  Federalist.  The  division  of  parties  in 
Connecticut  at  this  juncture  was  largely  independent  of 
former  lines,  and  Mr.  Wolcott's  name  was  widely  accept- 
able, especially  to  those  supporters  of  the  ticket  who  had 
formerly  voted  with  the  Federalists,  and  to  those  who 
desired  protection  for  manufactures,  of  which  he  was  a 
pronounced  advocate. 

He  failed  narrowly  of  an  election,  but  a  year  later,  in 
April,  1817,  was  successful,  and  retained  the  office  with 
honor  for  ten  years.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Con- 
vention which  framed  the  State  Constitution  of  1818,  and 
presided  over  that  body. 

At  a  later  period  he  returned  to  New  York,  to  be  near 
his  children,  and  died  there,  the  last  survivor  of  Washing- 
ton's Cabinet,  on  June  I,  1833,  in  his  74th  year.  His  wife, 
after  seven  years'  illness  from  consumption,  died  in  Litch- 
field on  September  24,  1805,  at  the  age  of  38. 

His  children  were  five  sons  (of  whom  three  died  in 
infancy)  and  two  daughters;  one  son  and  one  daughter 
survived  him. 

An  excellent  portrait,  by  Trumbull,  which  has  been 
often  engraved,  is  owned  by  his  only  surviving  grandson, 


86  Yale  College 

Professor  Wolcott  Gibbs ;  another,  by  Stuart,  is  owned  by 
Yale  University,  with  a  duplicate  in  the  Capitol  in  Hart- 
ford; another,  by  Earle,  is  in  the  Library  of  the  Con- 
necticut Historical  Society  at  Hartford,  where  also  his 
voluminous  manuscripts  are  deposited. 

A  summary  testimony  to  his  worth  is  this  by  Charles 
King,  the  son  of  his  friend,  Rufus  King,  in  the  New  York 
American,  two  days  after  his  death: — 

The  character  of  Mr.  Wolcott  was  strongly  marked.  Stern, 
inflexible,  and  devoted  in  all  that  duty,  honor,  and  patriotism 
enjoined,  he  was,  in  private  life,  of  the  utmost  gentleness,  kindness, 
and  sincerity.  With  strong  original  powers,  early  developed  by  the 
stirring  events  of  the  revolutionary  days  in  which  he  was  born,  he 
had  acquired  a  habit  of  self-reliance  which  little  fitted  him  for  that 
sort  of  political  cooperation  which  results  from  expediency  rather 
than  right.  He  aimed  at  the  right  always  and  at  all  events,  accord- 
ing to  his  best  convictions ;  and  if  any  questioned  his  judgment, 
none  could  impeach  his  honesty  and  sincerity. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred 
on  him  by  both  Brown  University  and  Princeton  College 
in  1799,  as  also  by  Yale  College  in  1819. 

The  following  were  his  independent  publications: — • 

1.  An  Address,  to  the  People  of  the  United  States,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Report  of  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
appointed  to  "Examine  and  report,  whether  monies  drawn  from  the 
Treasury,  have  been  faithfully  applied  to  the  objects  for  which  they 
were   appropriated,    and    whether   the    same    have   been    regularly 
accounted    for,".  .    which   Report   was   presented   on   the   29th   of 
April,  1802.     Boston,  1802.    8°,  pp.  112. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  H.  S.    U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.     Hartford,  1802.     8°,  pp.  70. 

[B.  Ath.    Harv.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

A  vindication  of  his  official  conduct  from  the  conclusions  of  a 
partisan  Report  drawn  up  after  his  retirement  from  office. 

2.  British  Influence  on  the  Affairs  of  the  United  States,  proved 
and  explained.     Boston,  1804.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[B.  Ath,    B.  Publ.    Broivn  Univ.    Harv.      U.  S.    Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1778  87 

An  anonymous  tract,  signed  "Marcus,"  giving  an  account  of  Jay's 
Treaty,  in  1794,  its  causes  and  effects,  and  a  defence  of  Federalist 

policy. 

3.  Remarks  on  the  present  state"  xjf  Currency,  Credit,  Commerce, 
and  National  Industry :    in  reply  to  an  Address  of  the  Tammany 
Society  of  New- York.     New- York,  1820.    8°,  pp.  43. 

[B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Brit.  Mus.  Harv.  N.  Y.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.  R.  I.  H.  S.  U.  S.  Watkinson  Libr. 
Y.  C. 

He  also  assisted  the  Hon.  William  Loughton  Smith,  of  South 
Carolina,  in  the  composition  of  the  following  anonymous 
pamphlet : — 

4.  The  Pretensions  of  Thomas  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency  exam- 
ined ;    and  the  Charges  against  John  Adams  refuted   .  .      United 
States,  October,  1796.    8°,  pp.  64.      i[N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same,  Part  2.    November,  1796.    8°,  pp.  42. 

[N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S. 

These  essays  were  first  published  in  the  Gazette  of  the  United 
States,  over  the  signature  of  "Phocion." 

Of  the  many  official  papers  issued  by  him  while  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  the  following  may  be  specially  mentioned : — 

5.  Letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  accompanying  a 
Plan  for  laying  and  collecting  Direct  Taxes  .  .     Presented,  Decem- 
ber 19,  1796,  folio,  pp.  68. 

6.  Letter  and  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  accom- 
panying a  Plan,  for  regulating  the  Collection  of  Duties  on  Imports 
and   Tonnage    .  .      25th   January,    1798.     8°,   pp.    158  -(-  tables. 

[Y.  C. 

Of  his  official  papers  as  Governor  of  Connecticut  the  following 
may  be  specified : — 

7.  Speech,  delivered  before  both  Houses  at  the  Session  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  in  May,  1817.     8°, 
pp.  8.  [U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

8.  A  Sketch  of  a  Bill  providing  for  the  assessment  and  collection 
of  Taxes  in  Connecticut,  together  with  an  explanation  of  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  the  Bill  is  founded.     May,  1819.     [Hartford.]  8°, 
pp.  23  +  23.  [Y.  C. 

9.  Message  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
at  the  Commencement  of  their  Session  at  Hartford,  May,  A.  D. 
1821.    Hartford,  1821.    8°,  pp.  26.  [N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 


88  Yale  College 

10.  Message  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut,  containing  his  Reasons  for  Returning  the  Steam-boat 
Bill  to  the  Legislature,  May,  1822.     [Printed  with  Judge  Wm.  John- 
son's Opinion,  1823,  in  the  case  of  the  arrest  of  a  British  Seaman]. 
8°,  pp.  10-19.  [Y.  C. 

11.  Message  to  the  Senate,  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  at  the  Commencement  of  the  Session  of  the 
General  Assembly,  May,  A.  D.  1823.     Hartford,  1823.    8°,  pp.  13. 

[N.  Y.  H.  S. 

12.  Message  to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  Con- 
necticut, at  the  commencement  of  the  session  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, in  New-Haven,  May,  A.  D.   1824.     New-Haven,   1824.     8°, 
pp.  19.  [Brit.  Mus.     N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

13.  Hamilton  No.  IX.     (Remarks  on  the  Speech  of  Daniel  Web- 
ster on  unrestricted  trade.)     1824.    8°,  pp.  8.  [U.  S. 

14.  Message  to  the  General  Assembly,  May  Session,  A.  D.  1825. 
Hartford,  1825.    8°,  pp.  16.  [F.  C. 

15.  Message  to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  at  the  commencement  of  the  session.     May, 
A.  D.  1826.    New-Haven,  1826.    8°.  [Brit.  Mus. 

His  grandson,  George  Gibbs,  published  in  1846  two  volumes 
entitled :  Memoirs  of  the  Administrations  of  Washington  and  John 
Adams,  edited  from  the  Papers  of  Oliver  Wolcott,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury. 

This  very  valuable  compilation  comprises  a  mass  of  letters  and 
papers  by  Wolcott,  as  well  as  letters  received  by  him. 

Extracts  from  other  letters  by  him  are  given  in  the  Wolcott 
Memorial,  edited  in  1881 ;  and  others  are  printed  elsewhere.  About 
twenty  (1790-1810)  are  calendared  in  the  Index  of  the  Pickering 
Papers,  published  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


AUTHORITIES. 

American  Annual  Register,  viii,  pt.  Society's  Proceedings,  i,  498.     N.  E. 

2,  447-48.     Connecticut  Magazine,  vii,  Hist,   and   Geneal.   Register,   iv,    1-2. 

291-96.      Hildreth,  Hist,  of  U.  S.,  v,  Salisbury,  Family  Histories  and  Gen- 

396,  401,  453;    vi,  299,  501,  516,  603,  ealogies,  ii,   189,   191-96.     Pres.  Ezra 

623.      Hubert,  The   Merchants'    Na-  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  288,  555-57, 

tional  Bank,  i,  24-26,  78.     Johnston,  561.    H.  R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of  Windsor, 

Yale  in   the   Revolution,   342.      Kil-  2d  ed.,  ii,  730,  813,  817-18.     Wolcott 

bourne,  Biographical  Hist,  of  Litch-  Memorial,  149,  216-313,  364-79. 
field    County,    24-38.      Mass.    Hist. 


Annals,  1778-79  89 


Annals,  1778-79 


In  this  year  the  winter  vacation,  instead  of  covering  the 
usual  three  weeks,  continued  for  seven  weeks  and  a  half 
(December  28-February  18),  on  account  of  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  flour  and  other  provisions  for  the  supply  of 
the  College  Commons. 

A  more  serious  interruption  came  in  July.  Early 
on  Monday  morning,  July  5,  from  two  to  three  thousand 
British  troops  under  General  Tryon  landed  in  the  suburbs 
of  New  Haven,  and  proceeded  to  plunder  the  town  during 
the  rest  of  the  day.*  A  company  of  Yale  students,  about 
seventy  in  number,  commanded  by  George  Welles  of  the 
Senior  Class,  assisted  in  checking  the  British  advance. 
The  College  buildings  were  not  damaged,  for  which 
exemption  Edmund  Fanning  (Yale  1757),  a  member  of 
General  Tryon's  official  family,  afterwards  claimed  the 
credit. 

At  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  President  Stiles  dis- 
missed the  students  until  further  orders.  A  private  Com- 
mencement, for  the  conferring  of  degrees,  was  held  on 
September  8;  but  no  attempt  was  made  to  assemble  the 
College  for  study  until  the  usual  time  of  beginning  the 
fall  term  (October  22). 

Abraham  Baldwin  left  the  tutorship  in  June,  to  join  the 
army  as  a  chaplain,  and  his  place  was  taken  by  William 
Lockwood  (Yale  1774). 

*An  excellent  account  of  the  affair  by  Peter  Colt  (Yale  1764)  is  printed 
in  the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  seventh  series, 
vol.  2,  pp.  401-04. 


OF  THT 


f   UNIVERSITY  J 


90  Yale  College 


Sketches,  Class  of  1779 


*  David  A  ustin,  A.  M.  *  1 83 1 
*Guilielmus  Baldwin,  A.M.  *i8i8 
^Benjamin  Bell,  A.M.  1783 

*Jonathan  Brace,  A.M.  1791,  e  Congr.,  Socius  ex 

officio 

*Jeremias  Bradford,  et  Dartm.  1779,  A.M.  Dartm. 
*Jeremias  Gates  Brainard,  A.M.,  Reip.  Conn.  Cur. 

Supr.  Jurid. 
*Daniel  Catlin 

*Justus  Cook,  A.M.  *i828 

* David  Darling'  "1835 

*Ozias  Eells,  A.M.  *i8i3 

*Zebulon  Ely,  A.M.,  Tutor  *i824 

*Stephanus  Fowler,  A.M.  *i829 
*Elizur   Goodrich,   A.M.,   LL.D.    1830,   Tutor,    e 

Congr.,    Jurisprud.    Prof.,     Socius    ex    officio, 

•Secretarius  *i849 

*Silas  Hazeltine  "1814 

*  Samuel  Guilielmus  Johnson,  A.M.  et  Columb.  1789  "1846 
*Ambrosius  Kirtland  *I7^4 
Jonathan  Maltby,  A.M.  *i8so 
*Nicolaus  Shelton  Masters,  1790,  et  A.M.  1790  *I795 
*Shadrachus  Mead 

^Johannes  Noyes,  A.M. 

*Elisaeus  Payne,  A.M.  *:8o3 

*Samuel  Pitkin  *i839 

*Matthaeus  Talcott  Russell,  A.M.,  Tutor  *i828 

*  Guilielmus  Seymour  *l&43 

*  Johannes  Stevens  *I799 
*Jeremias  Townsend,  A.M.  *J8o5 
*Samuel  Webb  "1826 


Biographical  Sketches,  ///p  91 

*Georgius  Welles 


*Guilielmus  Welles,  A.M.  *i8i2 

*Guilielmus  Wheeler,  1793,  et  A.M.  1793  *i8io 

*Guilielmus  Whitman,  A.M.  "1846 

*Samuel  Whittelsey,  A.M.  "1838 

*Elisaeus  Whittlesey,  A.M.  *i8o2 

*Ezekiel  Woodruff  *i8— 


DAVID  AUSTIN,,  the  eldest  son  and  fourth  child  of  David 
Austin,  of  New  Haven,  and  grandson  of  Deacon  David 
and  Rebecca  (Thompson)  Austin,  also  of  New  Haven, 
was  born  here  on  March  19,  1759.  His  mother  was  Mary, 
daughter  of  Nathaniel  and  Rebecca  (Lines)  Mix,  of  New 
Haven.  A  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1794,  and  a 
half-brother  of  his  father  in  1762. 

His  father  was  a  Deacon  in  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edwards's 
White  Haven  Church ;  and  this  son  in  pursuing  the  study 
of  theology  naturally  spent  a  part  of  the  time  with  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Bellamy,  whose  doctrinal  bias  was  similar  to  that 
of  Edwards.  He  studied  also  at  Yale  College,  and  for  a 
few  months  at  Harvard  College,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  New  Haven  Association  of  Ministers  on 
May  30,  1780. 

He  went  to  Europe  in  the  autumn  of  1781,  and  after 
visiting  the  Low  Countries,  England,  and  France,  returned 
in  August,  1782. 

Both  before  and  after  this  trip  he  preached  to  great 
acceptance  in  various  parishes,  but  showed  no  haste  to 
settle  permanently.  While  supplying  the  Second  Church 
in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  he  became  engaged  to  Lydia, 
only  daughter  of  Dr.  Joshua  Lathrop  (Yale  1743),  of 
Norwich,  whom  he  married  on  June  5,  1783.  His  license 
to  preach  expired  in  May,  1784,  and  he  did  not  apply  for 
its  renewal  until  October,  1787. 

In  August,  1787,  his  pastor,  Dr.  Edwards,  was  invited 
to  take  charge  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Elizabeth 


92  Yale  College 

Town  (now  Elizabeth),  New  Jersey.  He  declined  the 
invitation,  but  it  was  probably  through  him  that  Mr.  Aus- 
tin was  heard  there  as  a  candidate  in  the  following  April. 
On  May  7,  1788,  this  church  asked  leave  of  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York  to  offer  him  a  call,  which  was  the  same  day 
presented. 

He  accepted  this  call  on  June  I,  and  was  ordained  and 
installed  on  September  9. 

He  threw  himself  with  intense  ardor  into  the  work  of 
the  church  and  parish ;  and  finding  among  the  prominent 
members  of  the  congregation  an  enterprising  publisher  he 
early  undertook  the  issue  of  a  bi-monthly  magazine,  and 
also  edited  a  number  of  standard  theological  works. 

He  very  soon  began  to  take  an  interest  in  the  prophetic 
studies  which  were  common  at  that  day,  and  in  1794  began 
to  publish  his  views  on  the  coming  Millennium. 

A  violent  attack  of  scarlet  fever  in  1795  is  supposed  to 
have  affected  his  mind;  and  after  his  convalescence  his 
thoughts  were  wholly  absorbed  in  the  study  of  subjects 
connected  with  prophecy.  In  a  series  of  sermons  on  the 
sixtieth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  he  predicted  the  second  coming 
of  Christ  on  a  certain  day  in  May,  1796,  and  led  a  body  of 
his  followers  to  prepare  for  that  event.  Their  disappoint- 
ment did  not  dissipate  his  delusion,  but  he  proceeded  to 
give  himself  up  to  a  crusade  of  preparation  for  the  Second 
Advent,  under  the  persuasion  of  an  extraordinary  and 
direct  call  from  God  to  that  work. 

In  April,  1797,  his  congregation  applied  to  the  Presby- 
tery for  a  dissolution  of  the  pastoral  relation.  The  Pres- 
bytery took  action  on  May  4,  when  Mr.  Austin  renounced 
their  jurisdiction  and  they  declared  the  pastoral  relation 
dissolved. 

After  a  short  interval  he  returned  to  his  native  city,  and 
here  entered  on  what  for  the  time  were  regarded  as  exten- 
sive building  operations.  A  large  share  of  his  ample  patri- 
mony was  expended  in  erecting  houses  and  stores  which  he 
declared  were  for  the  use  of  the  Jews  in  America,  who 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  93 

were  to  assemble  here  preparatory  to  embarking  for  the 
Holy  Land,  where  they  were  to  await  the  Messiah's 
coming. 

Owing  to  consequent  embarrassments  he  was  for  some 
time  detained  in  the  debtors'  prison;  and  when  at  liberty 
he  made  his  home  with  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Street  (Yale 
1751),  of  East  Haven,  who  had  married  his  father's  half- 
sister, — his  own  wife  having  returned  to  her  father  in 
Norwich. 

He  preached  as  he  found  opportunity;  as,  for  instance, 
in  the  parish  of  Greenfield  Hill,  Connecticut,  during  the 
year  1797-98.  In  1801  he  spent  some  time  in  the  city  of 
Washington.  Later  he  joined  the  Baptists  for  a  season, 
and  in  1804-05  he  spent  considerable  time  in  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  preaching  to  a  section  of  his-  former 
people  while  their  pulpit  was  vacant,  and  made  application 
for  restoration  to  the  Presbytery,  but  was  not  successful. 
He  was,  however,  approved  as  a  preacher  by  the  New 
Haven  Association,  which  had  originally  licensed  him,  and 
thus  secured  a  status  in  Connecticut. 

In  October,  1807,  the  death  of  his  father-in-law  gave 
Mrs.  Austin  abundant  means,  and  they  resided  thence- 
forth in  Norwich. 

In  1815  he  received  a  call  to  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Bozrah,  a  small  parish  adjoining  Norwich,  where  he 
was  installed  on  May  9,  and  where  he  continued  in  active 
service  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Norwich,  after 
a  year  of  declining  health,  on  February  5,  1831,  in  his  72d 
year. 

His  wife  died  in  Norwich  on  October  25,  1818,  at  the 
age  of  54.  They  had  no  children. 

One  of  his  successors  in  the  church  at  Elizabeth,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Murray,  thus  summarizes  the  account  of  his 
influence : — 

Mr.  Austin  was  decidedly  one  of  the  most  popular  preachers  of 
his  day.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  great  affliction,  no  man  could  be 
more  universally  beloved  and  admired.  Dignified  in  personal  appear- 


94  Yale  College 

ance,  polished  in  manners,  eloquent  in  his  public  performances,  and 
prompt  to  meet  every  demand  that  was  made  upon  his  ample 
fortune,  he  exerted  a  commanding  influence  not  only  over  his  own 
congregation,  but  also  over  many  of  the  leading  minds  of  his  day. 
His  memory  was  retentive  and  his  conversational  powers  extraor- 
dinary. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  McEwen,  one  of  his  ministerial  neighbors, 
says  of  his  last  years: — 

He  closed  life  unusually  well.  Nearly  a  year  before  his  death, 
his  health  began  to  decline.  His  forwardness,  his  eccentricity,  his 
extravagance,  his  drollery,  were  all  laid  aside.  An  increasing  sim- 
plicity and  gentleness,  with  brotherly  love  &  faith,  characterized 
him  the  residue  of  his  days. 

He  published: 

1.  The    Millennium:     or,    the    Thousand    Years    of    Prosperity, 
promised  to  the  Church  of  God,  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New, 
shortly  to  Commence,  and  to  be  carried  on  to  Perfection  .  . .     Eliza- 
beth Town,  1794.    8°,  pp.  xii,  9-427  -f-  pi.      [A.  A.  S.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

This  volume  contains  a  Sermon  on  the  Millennium  (1758),  by 
Joseph  Bellamy ;  An  Humble  Attempt  to  promote  .  .  Prayer,  for  .  . 
the  Advancement  of  Christ's  Kingdom  on  Earth  (1747), by  Jonathan 
Edwards ;  and 

The  Downfall  of  Mystical  Babylon ;  or,  a  Key  to  the  Providence 
of  God,  in  the  Political  Operations  of  1793-4.  Being  the  substance 
of  a  Discourse  [from  Rev.  xviii,  20],  preached,  first,  at  Elizabeth- 
Town,  and  afterwards  at  New-York,  on  .  .  April  7,  1793,  and  now 
offered,  with  notes  and  illustrations,  in  evidence  of  the  sentiments 
then  delivered.  By  David  Austin,  (pp.  323-426.) 

2.  The  Voice  of  God  to  the  People  of  these  United  States.    By  a 
Messenger  of  Peace  . .     Elizabeth-Town,  1796.    8°,  pp.  154. 

[U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  author  includes  in  this  pamphlet  a  sketch  of  his  own  life- 
history,  as  showing  a  remarkable  adaptation  to  God's  providential 
arrangements. 

3.  A  Prophetic  Leaf.    Containing  an  Illustration  of  the  Signs  of 
the  Times,  as  now  displaying  themselves  to  the  Eye  of  a  Spiritual 
Observer  ...     By  a  Friend  to  the  Truth.     New-Haven,  1798.     8°, 
pp.  64.  [C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  95 

This  pamphlet  contains  23  numbers  of  a  communication  addressed 
by  the  author  to  the  newspapers,  under  the  title,  The  Stone  against 
the  Image. 

"  v» 

4.  Masonry   in   its   Glory:    or,   Solomon's   Temple   Illtfminated': 
Discerned  through  the  flashes  of  Prophetic  Light    ...      [A  Dis- 
course, from  Hebr.  iii,  4.]     East- Windsor,  1799.    8°,  pp.  31. 

[C.  H.  S. 

5.  The  Millenial  Door  Thrown  Open,  or,  The  Mysteries  of  the 
Latter  Day  Glory  unfolded,  in  a  Discourse  [from  Daniel  vii,  26,  27] 
delivered  at  East  Windsor,  July  Fourth,  1799.    East-Windsor,  1799. 
12°,  pp.  36.  (C.  H.  S. 

6.  The  Dance  of  Herodias,  through  the  Streets  of  Hartford,  on 
Election  Day,  to  the  tune  of  The  Stars  of  Heaven,  in  the  Dragon's 
Tail ;    or,  A  gentle  trip  at  the  heels  of  the  Strumpet  of  Babylon, 
Playing  tricks  in  the  attire   of   the   Daughters   of   Zion.      [East- 
Windsor]    1799.     12°. 

Anonymous. 

7.  A  Discourse  [from  Joel  iii,  17],  delivered  on  occasion  of  the 
death  of  George  Washington,  late  President  .  .  in  compliance  with 
the  request  of  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Common  Council  of  the 
Borough  of  Elizabeth,  December  25,  1799.    Also  Sketches  of  a  run- 
ning Discourse,  delivered  to  the  Union  Brigade,  on  the  same  occa- 
sion, at  their  cantonment  on  Green  Brook,  in  compliance  with  a 
request  from  Colonel  Smith,  the  Commanding  Officer,  December 
26,  1799.    With  an  Address  to  the  Throne  of  Grace,  offered  at  the 
door  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  cantonment  on  Green  Brook,  Feb- 
ruary 22,  the  birthday  of  our  National  Luminary.    New- York,  1800. 
4°,  pp.  36  + pi.  '[C.H.S.     U.S. 

8.  The  Dawn  of  Day,  introductory  to  the  Rising  Sun,  whose  rays 
shall  gild  the  clouds ;    and  open  to  a  benighted  world  the  glowing 
Effulgence  of  that  Dominion,  that  is  to  be  given  to  the  People  of  the 
Saints  of  the  Most  High. — In  nine  Letters  .  .     New-Haven,  1800. 
8°,  pp.  32.  [C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

This  compilation,  like  some  of  his  earlier  and  later  effusions,  is  in 
part  political,  showing  his  strong  Federalist  sympathies. 

9.  The  National  "Barley  Cake",  or,  the  "Rock  of  Offence"  into  a 
"Glorious  Holy  Mountain" ;   in  Discourses  and  Letters.     Washing- 
ton, January  14,  A.D.  1802.    8°,  pp.  80. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

This  contains  five  discourses,  of  a  semi-political  nature,  written 
and  delivered  in  Washington;  one  was  "delivered  in  the  Repre- 


96  Yale  College 

sentatives'  Chamber,  4th  July,  1801";  another  was  a  Christmas 
discourse ;  and  another  a  Masonic  discourse.  To  these  are  appended 
nine  letters,  addressed  to  individuals  (mainly  in  Washington)  and 
to  Congress,  which  are  largely  autobiographical  and  of  much 
interest. 

10.  Republican    Festival,    Proclamation,    and    New    Jerusalem. 
New  Haven,  March  9th,  A.D.  1803.    8°,  pp.  16.       [Harv.     Y.  C. 

Political  and  prophetic  jargon. 

11.  Proclamation  for  the  Millennial  Empire.     New  York,  1805. 
folio  sheet. 

12.  The  Rod  of  Moses  upon  the  Rock  of  Calvary;   or  the  moun- 
tains of  fire,  and  of  blood. — A  Dedicatory  Discourse  [from  Exodus 
xxiv,  24],  at  the  Opening  of  a  Place  of  Worship,  West-Parish  of 
Franklin,   State  of  Connecticut.     December  21,  A.D.   1815,  Nor- 
wich, 1816.    8°,  pp.  32.  [C.  H.  S.    Harv. 

At  the  end,  to  fill  the  remaining  pages  (27-32)  of  the  form,  the 
following  is  inserted : — 

Sketches  of  a  Discourse  [from  Ps.  cxviii,  27],  delivered  in  the 
presence  of  a  numerous  congregation  of  citizens,  .  .  assembled  at 
Franklin,  (Con.)  for  the  celebration  of  the  welcome  tidings  of 
Peace,  between  Great-Britain,  and  the  United  States,  February  27, 
1815. 

He  also  edited  the  following: — 

1.  The    Christian's,    Scholar's,    and    Farmer's    Magazine 

Elizabeth-Town,  1789-91.    2  volumes.     8°. 

2.  The  American  Preacher;    or,  a  Collection  of  Sermons  from 
some  of  the  most  eminent  Preachers,  now  living,  in  the  United 
States    .  .      Elizabeth-Town    and    New-Haven,    1791-93.      4    vol- 
umes. •  8°. 

A  collection  of  much  value. 

3.  The    True    Scripture-Doctrine    concerning    some    Important 
Points  of   Christian   Faith    .  .     By  Jonathan  Dickinson. — With  a 
Preface,  and  some  Sketches  of  the  Life  of  the  Author,  by  Mr. 
Austin.    Elizabeth  Town,  1793.     12°. 

4.  History   of   Redemption    .  .     By  Jonathan   Edwards.      New- 
York,  1793.    8°. 

Mr.  Austin  was  attracted  by  this  work  in  connection  with  his 
millenarian  studies;  and  he  contributed  some  Notes  to  the  edition. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  97 

AUTHORITIES. 

Caulkins,  Hist,  of  Norwich,  2d  ed.,  kins,  Old  Houses  of  Norwich,  i,  153, 

435-37-    Disosway,  Earliest  Churches  510.    Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer. 

of '  New   York  and  vicinity,  379-81^  Pulpit,  ii,   195-206 ;    Memoirs  of  the 

Hat  field,  Hist,   of   Elizabeth,   N.   J.,  McDowells,  9-12.     Pres.  Stiles,  Lit- 

596-607, 609-13.    Huntington,  Lathrop  erary    Diary,    iii,    34,    279.      Tuttle 

Family,  105.    Murray,  Notes  concern-  Family,  626. 
ing    Elizabeth-Town,    114-25.      Per- 


WILLIAM  BALDWIN,  son  of  Richard  and  Margaret 
Baldwin,  of  Branford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Bran- 
ford  on  October  4,  1760. 

In  July,  1780,  he  was  recommended  by  Colonel  Meigs, 
of  the  Sixth  Connecticut  Regiment,  for  a  position  as 
Ensign,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment. 

He  perhaps  studied  medicine;  but  eventually  settled  in 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  as  the  principal  of  the  Lathrop 
endowed  Grammar  School,  and  there  married  in  1802 
Alice,  younger  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Mary  (Carew, 
Brown)  Huntington. 

He  died  in  Norwich  in  1818,  aged  58  years. 

His  widow  died  in  Norwich,  late  in  December,  1833,  in 
her  6  ist  year.  They  had  no  children. 

The  historian  of  Norwich  describes  him  as  "an  excel- 
lent instructor,  faithful  and  apt  to  teach,  but  a  rigid 
disciplinarian." 

AUTHORITIES. 

Baldwin  Genealogy,  i,  329.  Caul-  ston,  Yale  in  the  Revolution,  344. 
kins,  Hist,  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  2d  ed.,  Perkins,  Old  Houses  of  Norwich,  i, 
543.  Huntington  Family,  148.  John-  92,  259,  493. 


BENJAMIN  BELL,  a  native  of  the  tract  of  land  called 
Nine  Partners,  in  the  northern  part  of  Duchess  County, 
New  York,  was  born  on  January  21,  1752,  his  father, 
Deliverance  Bell,  being  a  native  of  Norwich,  Connecticut, 
and  probably  a  son  of  Dr.  Robert  and  Abigail  (Tilton, 


98  Yale  College 

Fillmore)  Bell,  and  his  mother  from  Ashford,  Windham 
County,  Connecticut. 

His  early  life  was  spent  on  his  father's  farm,  and  after 
he  attained  his  majority  he  taught  school;  but  on  deter- 
mining- to  enter  the  ministry  he  quitted  farming  and  store- 
keeping  to  begin,  in  January,  1775,  the  study  of  Latin,  in 
Woodbury,  Connecticut,  and  made  such  progress  as  to 
enter  College  the  following  September. 

After  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  theology  with 
the  Rev.  Stephen  West  (Yale  1755),  of  Stockbridge,  and 
continued  it  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Bellamy  (Yale 
1735),  of  Bethlehem,  Connecticut,  being  licensed  to  preach 
by  the  Litchfield  South  Association  of  Ministers  in  1781. 
He  was  then  sent  as  a  missionary  to  Rutland  and  Addison 
Counties,  Vermont,  and  later  found  various  preaching 
engagements  in  Connecticut. 

On  October  13,  1784,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  Amesbury,  Essex  County, 
Massachusetts,  succeeding  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hibbert 
(Harvard  1748),  who  had  fallen  into  intemperance.  The 
sermon  at  his  ordination,  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Spring 
(Princeton  College  1771),  was  afterwards  published,  and 
contains  in  an  appendix  his  Confession  of  Faith. 

On  the  1 6th  of  the  following  month  he  married 
Rebecca,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Phillips  White,  of  South 
Hampton,  New  Hampshire  (and  formerly  of  Newbury- 
port,  Massachusetts). 

The  field  proved  a  difficult  one  (the  former  pastor 
having  led  off  a  secession,  which  formed  a  Presbyterian 
church  under  his  guidance),  and  Mr.  Bell  resigned  in 
March,  1790. 

In  November,  1790,  he  was  called  to  the  Congregational 
church  formed  by  the  union  of  two  congregations  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  Connecticut  River,  in  Windsor,  Ver- 
mont, and  Cornish,  New  Hampshire.  He  accepted  the 
call,  and  was  installed  in  the  Cornish  meeting-house  on 
November  30,  1790,  his  residence  being  fixed  in  Windsor. 


Biographical  Sketches,  ///p  99 

His  rigid  New-Light  theology  proved  after  about  two 
years  unacceptable,  and  in  consequence  of  the  personal 
prejudice  thus  excited,  charges  were  in  August,  1/94,  pre- 
ferred against  him  in  the  church  for  extortion  and  over- 
reaching in  a  business  transaction  (in  1791-92),  which 
resulted  in  a  formal  vote  of  censure  by  the  church  in  Octo- 
ber, 1794.  By  advice  of  a  council  he  made  confession  of 
his  fault  and  was  forgiven;  but  the  church  subsequently 
reconsidered  its  action,  and  excommunicated  him  on 
March  6,  1795. 

The  few  members  of  his  church  residing  in  Cornish 
adhered  to  him,  and  requested  him  to  give  them  his  whole 
time,  which  he  did,  until  it  was  clear  that  they  could  not 
afford  him  an  adequate  salary,  and  in  August,  1795,  he 
ceased  to  preach.  He  then  opened  a  store  in  Cornish,  and 
continued  there  for  the  next  winter. 

In  July,  1797,  he  removed  to  the  house  of  his  wife's 
father,  in  South  Hampton,  New  Hampshire,  where  she 
died  in  February,  1803,  aged  38  years. 

Later  he  found  employment  as  preceptor  of  a  Young 
Ladies'  Seminary  on  Long  Island;  whence  he  went  as  a 
missionary  to  Central  and  Western  New  York.  He 
appears  to  have  been  preaching  in  Skaneateles,  Onondaga 
County,  in  1807;  and  in  (East)  Palmyra,  Wayne  County, 
in  1807-09;  in  October,  1809,  ne  organized  a  Congrega- 
tional church  in  La  Fayette,  Onondaga  County;  in  1810- 
1 1  he  was  stated  supply  of  the  Congregational  church  in 
Elbridge,  in  the  same  county;  in  1812-13  he  was  preach- 
ing in  Steuben,  Oneida  County;  and  about  1817  in  Nor- 
wich, Chenango  County. 

About  1822  he  returned,  broken  down  by  intemperate 
habits,  to  his  first  parish,  and  died  in  the  almshouse  in 
West  Amesbury,  on  the  last  day  of  1836,  in  his  85th  year. 

His  children  were  two  sons  and  four  daughters.  The 
younger  son  became  a  Universalist  preacher  and  editor. 

He  was  considered  a  man  of  feeble  talents  and  of  much 
eccentricity. 


ioo  Yale  College 

He  published: 

1.  The  Nature  and  Importance  of  a  Pure  Peace  illustrated;   and 
the  Means  by  which  it  may  be  obtained  and  cultivated,  shown,  and 
urged,  in  a  Discourse  on  Romans,  xiv,  17.    Delivered  before  several 
Members  of  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont, during  their  Session  in  Windsor,  October  1791. — Published 
at  their  particular  Desire.    Windsor.    8°,  pp.  19. 

[B.  Publ.     U.  S. 

2.  The  Folly  of   Sinners,  in  excusing  themselves   from  blame, 
while   continuing  in   an   impenitent   state,   Illustrated ; — in   a   Dis- 
course, on  Genesis  iii,  12,  13.     Delivered  at  Cornish,  (New-Hamp- 
shire)  1792.     Windsor.    8°,  pp.  51.         [B.  Publ.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

3.  Sleepy  Dead  Sinners,  exhorted  to  awake  out  of  their  Sleep 
and  to  arise  from  the  Dead.     In  a  Discourse,  on  Ephesians  v,  14. 
Windsor,  1793.    8°,  pp.  24. 

[B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.    U.  S. 

The  author's  design  is  "to  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  original,  and 
total,  depravity." 

4.  The  Character  of  a  Virtuous  Woman ;   delineated  in  a  Lecture 
on  Proverbs,  xxxi.  10, — Delivered  at  Cornish  (N.  H.),  July  24th, 
1794.     New-London.     12°,  pp.  22. 

[B.  Publ.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 

With  outside  title,  Sermons  to  Young  Women. 

The  same.    Windsor,  1794.    12°,  pp.  22.  [Brit.  Mus. 

5.  An  Impartial  History  of  the  Trial  of  Benjamin  Bell,  A.M. 
for  the  pretended  Crime  of  Extortion:    exemplified  in  a  series  of 
letters.     Windsor,  1797.     12°,  pp.   155. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Publ.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

A  convincing  presentation  of  the  story  of  his  persecution. 

6.  The  Difference  between  the  present  and  former  days,  shown 
in  a  Discourse  upon  Eccles.  vii.  10,  delivered  at  Steuben,  August 
20,  1812,  being  the  day  appointed  . .  as  a  day  of  Fasting,  Humili- 
ation and  Prayer.     Utica,  1812.     12°,  pp.  .72. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    U.  T.  S. 

This  sermon  is  violently  Federalist,  and  in  the  preface  and  notes 
gives  abundant  proof  of  the  injudiciousness  of  the  author  in  regard 
to  political  preaching. 

7.  Strictures,  upon  the  Doctrine  and  Discipline,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church:   or  Methodism  exposed,  and  shown  to  be  incon- 


Biographical  Sketches,  /7/p  101 

sistent  with  itself  and  the  Word  of  God.    . .   Utica,  1812.     12°, 
pp.  262  +  48.  [U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  work  is  anonymous,  though  the  author's  initials  are  appended 
to  it.  Separately  paged  at  the  end  is  a  tract  entitled,  The  Calvin- 
ist's  Answer  to  the  Methodist's  Question,  viz — "Did  God,  from 
eternity,  absolutely  and  unconditionally  foreordain  whatsoever 
comes  to  pass?" 

8.  Practical  Sermons,  upon  the  most  important  subjects;    com- 
prising a  System  of  Divinity.    Utica,  1813.    2  vols.     12°,  pp.  308; 
300.  [U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  Preface  explains  the  writer's  desire  to  leave  these  printed 
discourses  for  the  perusal  of  his  children,  from  whom  he  has 
been  absent  much  of  the  last  ten  years. 

9.  A  Sermon  [from  James  iv,  i]  preached  at  Steuben  April  1813. 
In  which  are  shewn  the  evil  effects  of  War  and  when  it  may  be 
lawful  and  expedient  to  go  to  War.     Sangerfield,  1814.     12°,  pp. 
86.  [U.  S. 

Very  plainspoken  in  its  argument. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Quarterly  Register,  vii,  246,  Johnson,  Hist,  of  the  ist  Congrega- 
256.  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesias-  tional  Church,  Norwich,  N.  Y.,  18,  45. 
tical  Hist,  of  Essex  County,  Mass.,  N.  Y.  Genealogical  Record,  xxxv,  62. 
229.  Hotchkin,  Hist,  of  Western  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit, 
N.  Y.,  319,  337,  341,  376.  C.  R.  ii,  87. 


JONATHAN  BRACE,  the  second  son  in  a  family  of  ten 
children  of  Jonathan  Brace,  a  substantial  farmer  of  Har- 
winton,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
John  'Brace,  of  Hartford,  was  born  in  Harwinton  on 
November  12,  1754.  His  .mother  was  Mary  Messenger  of 
West  Hartford. 

His  original  intention  had  been  to  enter  the  ministry; 
but  during  his  Junior  year,  while  College  was  broken  up, 
his  Class  gathered  in  Glastonbury,  Connecticut,  where  he 
boarded  with  Mrs.  Anna  (White),  widow  of  Thomas 
Kimberly  (Yale  1766),  of  Glastonbury, — a  lady  about 
one  year  younger  than  himself,  with  two  young  children, 
whom  he  married  on  April  14,  1778. 


102  Yale  College 

After  assuming  these  responsibilities  he  employed  his 
leisure  time  in  the  study  of  law,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Hon.  Oliver  Ellsworth  (Princeton  1766),  of  Hart- 
ford ;  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Bennington,  in  Ver- 
mont, in  November,  1779. 

He  settled  immediately  in  the  practice  of  law  in  Pawlet, 
Vermont;  but  in  April,  1782,  removed  to  Manchester, 
where  he  obtained  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice. 
He  also  held  the  office  of  State  Attorney  for  Bennington 
County  in  1784-85,  and  was  a  member  of  the  First  Coun- 
cil of  Censors  (1785).  In  May,  1783,  he  declined  an 
appointment  as  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  but  held  the 
office  of  Judge  of  Probate  for  1784-85. 

In  January,  1786,  he  returned  to  Glastonbury,  though 
he  was  not  admitted  to  the  Connecticut  Bar  until  October, 
1790.  He  represented  the  town  in  the  Legislature  at 
six  sessions  between  1788  and  1794;  and  in  August, 
1794,  he  removed  to  Hartford,  where  he  pursued  his  pro- 
fessional business  with  good  success.  His  career  there 
is  well  described  in  a  biographical  notice  by  Payne  K. 
Kilbourne  :— 

There  were  at  that  period  men  of  high  attainments  at  the  Hart- 
ford bar,  but  he  was  inferior  to  none  of  them.  His  bodily  frame 
was  large,  manly,  and  commanding,  his  voice  full  and  sonorous, 
his  countenance  indicative  of  honesty  and  benevolence,  and  his 
manner  easy  and  popular.  Add  to  this,  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  law,  and  the  springs  of  human  conduct — the  ability  of 
seizing  upon  the  main  points  in  a  case,  and  of  reasoning  logically 
on  common  sense  principles,  connected  with  so  complete  a  control 
of  his  temper  and  spirit  as  never  to  be  thrown  off  his  guard  or 
unduly  excited  by  the  remarks  of  his  opponents — and  you  have 
an  idea  of  what  he  then  was  before  a  jury,  and  as  an  effective 
lawyer.  These  qualities  were  duly  appreciated,  for  he  was  chosen 
to  the  offices  of  State  Attorney  for  the  county  of  Hartford,  Judge 
of  the  County  Court  for  said  county,  and  Judge  of  Probate  for 
that  District.  In  May,  1798,  he  was  elected  an  Assistant;  in 
[October,  1798]  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  Congress,  in  the 
room  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Coit,  deceased ;  in  May,  1800,  he  was 
re-elected  to  Congress,  and  attended  the  winter  following.  That 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  103 

session  closed  in  May  1801,  and  was  the  last  meeting  of  that  body 
in  Philadelphia.  At  its  close,  his  health  being  impaired,  he  tendered 
his  resignation,  which  was  accepted.  He  was,  however,  again 
chosen  an  Assistant  in  May  i'8o2,  and  afterwards  annually  until 
May  1819,  when  the  State  having  adopted  a  new  Constitution,  he 
was  chosen  a  Senator — that  title  being  substituted  in  place  of 
Assistant  .  . .  He  was  again  chosen  a  Senator  in  1820,  and  attended 
the  session  that  year  in  New  Haven,  and  declined  a  further  election. 
The  office  of  Judge  of  the  County  Court  he  held  twelve  years 
[1809-21]  and  the  office  of  Judge  of  Probate  fifteen  years  [1809- 
24].  He  was  likewise  for  a  protracted  period  one  of  the  Common 
Councilmen  for  the  City  of  Hartford,  subsequently  one  of  the 
Aldermen,  and  subsequently  still,  Mayor,  which  office  he  held  nine 
years,  and  resigned  the  same  [in  1824]  on  account  of  age.  For 
more  than  thirty  years  he  was  annually  appointed  .  .  a  Trustee  of 
the  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut,  which  office  he  held  until 
the  time  of  his  death. 

Portions  of  his  family  correspondence,  which  are  pre- 
served in  the  Yale  Library,  testify  to  his  sincere  Christian 
character  and  life. 

He  died  in  Hartford  on  August  26,  1837,  in  his  83d 
year.  His  wife  survived  him,  dying  in  Hartford  on  the 
7th  of  the  following  December,  aged  84  years. 

Their  only  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1801 ;  and 
their  only  daughter  married  (unhappily)  Professor  Fred- 
erick Hall  (Dartmouth  Coll.  1803). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.     Quarterly     Register,     xiv,  White    Memorials,    66.      Kilbourne, 

384-85.     Bailey,    Early    Conn.    Mar-  Biographical      Hist,      of      Litchfield 

riages,    vii,    105.      Glastenbury    Cen-  County,    121-25.      Records    of    Ver- 

tennial,  240-41.    Hemenway,  Vermont  mont  Governor  and  Council,  iii,  21, 

Gazetteer,  i,  202-03.     Hinman,  Gen-  34,  64,  345.    Trumbull,  Hist,  of  Hart- 

ealogy  of  the  Puritans,  308.    Kellogg,  ford  County,  i,  117,  385. 


JEREMIAH  BRADFORD,  Junior,  the  eldest  son  and  second 
child  of  Dr.  Jeremiah  Bradford,  an  able  practitioner  of 
Middle  Haddam  Society,  in  the  present  township  of  Chat- 
ham, Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Gershom  and  Priscilla 
( Wiswall)  Bradford,  of  Kingston,  Massachusetts,  and 


104  Yale  College 

Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  was  baptized  at  Middle  Haddam 
on  October  29,  1758.  His  mother  was  Rebecca,  daughter 
of  Ebenezer  Dart,  of  Middle  Haddam.  His  College 
course  was  begun  at  Dartmouth  College,  in  New  Hamp- 
shire; but  on  account  of  the  confusion  resulting  from  the 
War  of  Independence,  he  was  admitted  to  Yale  College  at 
the  end  of  Junior  year,  on  July  9,  1778.  His  degree  was 
granted  him  in  regular  course  at  Dartmouth  on  August 
25,  1779,  as  well  as  at  Yale  two  weeks  later. 

He  studied  medicine  with  his  father,  and  received  a 
license,  but  never  practiced. 

On  May  19,  1782,  he  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain Enoch  and  Ruth  (Goodrich)  Smith,  of  Chatham,  by 
whom  he  had  three  daughters  and  three  sons,  who  grew 
to  maturity.  The  youngest  son  was  for  a  time  a  member 
of  Yale  College,  but  was  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Vermont  in  1829. 

He  was  engaged  in  manufacturing  business  in  Chat- 
ham until  about  1805,  when  he  removed  to  Berlin,  near 
Montpelier,  Vermont,  where  he  settled  on  a  farm  and  was 
mainly  occupied  in  raising  sheep  and  cattle.  Though  often 
solicited,  he  would  never  accept  any  public  office. 

He  died  at  the  house  of  his  youngest  daughter  in  Berlin, 
on  December  25,  1835,  aged  77  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,  nial  Address  at  Middletown,  281. 
80.  C.  D.  Bradford,  MS.  Letter,  Jan.  Hist,  of  Middlesex  County,  Conn., 
8,  1852.  Chapman,  Alumni  of  Dart-  1884,  202.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
mouth  College,  25.  Field,  Centen-  Diary,  ii,  282. 


JEREMIAH  GATES  BRAINARD,  the  third  son  and  fourth 
child  of  Judge  Daniel  and  Esther  (Gates)  Brainerd,  of 
East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Daniel  and 
Hannah  (Selden)  Brainerd,  of  East  Haddam,  was  born  in 
that  town  on  July  28,  1759. 

He  was  prepared  for  College  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Elijah  Parsons  (Yale  1768),  and  shortly  before  he  entered 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  105 

Yale  he  was  present  as  a  spectator  at  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,  in  which  his  eldest  brother  was  a  combatant.  His 
College  rank  was  good,  and  he^amed  a  Berkeley  Scholar- 
ship at  graduation. 

In  July,  1780,  he  was  appointed  Ensign  in  the  Seventh 
Connecticut  Regiment,  but  did  not  remain  in  service  over 
nine  months.  He  wras  principally  employed  in  attending 
to  the  accounts  of  the  Connecticut  line  at  the  War  Office 
in  Philadelphia. 

After  his  resignation  he  began  the  study  of  law  with 
General  Dyar  Throop  (Yale  1759),  of  East  Haddam,  and 
on  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  settled  in  practice  in  New 
London,  Connecticut,  and  there  married,  on  December  10, 
1783,  Sarah,  eldest  daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  (Palmes) 
Gardiner,  of  that  town. 

He  was  for  many  years  actively  and  creditably  engaged 
in  his  profession,  and  also  held  various  civil  offices.  He 
served  as  a  Representative  in  the  General  Assembly  in 
1786,  1789,  and  1794;  and  in  1805  was  chosen  Mayor  of 
the  city,  and  held  that  station  for  twenty-two  years.  He 
was  also  a  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  for  a  somewhat 
longer  period,  from  1806  to  1829,  when  he  resigned  this 
office  (as  he  had  resigned  the  office  of  Mayor)  in  conse- 
quence of  infirm  health. 

He  died  in  New  London  on  January  7,  1830,  in  his 
7 ist  year,  and  his  wife  died  on  June  30  of  the  same  year, 
aged  63. 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  a  daughter.  The 
sons  were  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1798,  1810,  and  1815, 
respectively. 

An  obituary  notice  in  the  New-London  Gazette  says  of 
him: — 

His  character  was  held  in  the  highest  estimation  by  his  fellow 
citizens  as  a  public  man,  and  his  domestic  virtues  adorned  human- 
ity. As  a  Judge,  he  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  Bench,  and  greatly 
respected  by  the  bar.  Stern  integrity  ever  marked  his  conduct  in 
his  political,  civil,  and  private  life. 


106  Yale  College 

The  tribute  of  an  acute  member  of  the  bar  is  as 
follows : — 

He  was  a  man  of  no  showy  pretensions,  very  plain  and  simple  in 
his  manners,  and  very  familiar  in  his  intercourse  with  the  bar.  He 
affected  very  little  dignity  on  the  bench,  and  yet  he  was  regarded 
as  an  excellent  judge.  He  despatched  business  with  great  facility, 
and  great  confidence  was  placed  in  his  sound  judgment  and 
integrity. 

He  published : 

An  Oration,  commemorative  of  the  Virtues  and  Services  of 
General  George  Washington;  spoken  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  City  of  New  London,  February  22d,  1800.  New-London, 
1800.  8°,  pp.  14.  [B.  Publ.  C.  H.  S.  U.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bond,    Hist,    of    Watertown,    946.       Johnston,    Yale    in    the    Revolution, 
Brainerd  Genealogy,  13,  17-18.      Caul-       342-43.     Lion  Gardiner  and  his  De- 
kins,  Hist,  of   N.  London,  620,  671.       scendants,  104. 
Hist,  of  Litchfield  County,   1881,  27. 


DANIEL  CATLIN,  JUNIOR,  was  a  son  of  Deacon  Daniel 
Catlin,  of  Harwinton,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Benjamin  and  Margaret  (Kellogg)  Catlin, 
of  Hartford  and  Harwinton. 

His  life  was  spent  in  his  native  village,  where  he  filled 
a  useful  place  in  the  community.  He  served  as  Town 
Clerk  from  1787  until  1803  (the  last  year  of  his  life),  was 
one  of  the  Representatives  in  the  Legislature  for  twenty 
sessions  from  1791  to  1802,  and  a  Deacon  in  the  village 
church  from  1795  until  his  death. 

He  died  in  Harwinton  on  July  7,  1804,  in  his  46th  year. 

His  wife  Honor  survived  him,  dying  in  Harwinton, 
in  May,  1836,  at  the  age  of  72.  He  left  little  or  no  estate. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Chipman,  Hist,  of  Harwinton,  117,       of  the  Puritans,  504. 
120-21,    134-36.    Hinman,  Genealogy 


Biographical  Sketches,  1770  107 

JUSTUS  COOK,  the  second  son  and  third  child  of  Eben- 
ezer  Cook,  of  Wallingford  and  that  part  of  Waterbury 
which  is  now  Plymouth,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Henry  and  Mary  (Frost)  Cook,  of  Waterbury,  was  born 
on  May  25,  1748.  His  mother  was  Phebe,  daughter  of 
Deacon  Moses  Blakeslee,  of  Plymouth;  and  a  younger 
brother  was  graduated  here  in  1777. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  College  Church  in  July  of  his 
Senior  year. 

All  that  is  known  of  his  later  career  is  contained  in  the 
following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  one  of  his 
nephews,  in  1848,  in  reply  to  a  request  for  information: — 

After  leaving  College  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  divinity. 
Being  licensed  to  preach  he  continued  to  preach  about  five  years  in 
different  places  in  this  [Connecticut]  and  other  States,  when  he  left 
his  profession  and  turned  his  attention  to  farming  business,  at  which 
time  he  married  a  lady  in  West  Hartford  by  the  name  of  Webster, 
by  whom  he  had  one  son  and  three  daughters.  He  was  a  man 
called  to  pass  through  scenes  of  adversity,  and  temporal  prosperity 
was  not  his  portion.  In  his  last  days  he  was  dependent  on  his 
children  for  support.  From  the  best  information  I  can  obtain,  he 
died  at  Whitesborough,  [Oneida  County,]  State  of  New  York, 
about  the  year  1828,  aged  80. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,   Hist,   of   Waterbury,   i,       of    Wallingford,    715.      Pres.    Stiles, 
appendix,    39.      Zenas    Cooke,    MS.       Literary  Diary,  ii,  351. 
Letter,    Apr.   20,    1848.     Davis,   Hist. 


DAVID  DARLING,  a  son  of  Benjamin  Darling,  of  Wren- 
tham,  Norfolk  County,  Massachusetts,  who  was  probably 
an  immigrant  from  England,  was  born  in  that  town  on 
April  14,  1754. 

He  entered  Brown  University,  and  had  nearly  completed 
his  course  there  when  the  confusion  of  the  Revolutionary 
war  broke  up  that  College.  He  subsequently  came  to  New 
Haven,  was  admitted  here  on  September  6,  1779,  and 
received  the  Bachelor's  degree  the  next  day. 


io8  Yale  College 

He  studied  theology,  and  on  January  18,  1781,  was 
ordained  as  the  first  pastor  of  a  Congregational  church 
which  had  been  formed  in  1769  in  the  town  of  Surry,  in 
south-western  New  Hampshire.  He  was  dismissed  from 
this  charge  on  December  30,  1783,  "difficulties  having 
arisen  on  account  of  a  marriage." 

He  then  removed  a  few  miles  southward,  to  Keene, 
where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  long  life,  and  died  highly 
respected  on  March  15,  1835,  aged  nearly  81  years. 

He  married  in  1781  Esther  Metcalf,  by  whom  he  had 
five  children. 

He  next  married,  in  1793,  Molly  Wood,  by  whom  he  had 
eleven  children;  and  in  1818  he  married  for  his  third  wife 
Matilda  Bowditch.  By  this  marriage  there  were  no 
children. 

The  eldest  child  of  the  second  marriage  was  graduated 
at  Dartmouth  College  in  1819  (also  M.D.  in  1825). 

Another  son  became  a  clergyman. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Barry,  Hist,  of  Framingham,  219.  of  N.  Hampshire,  29,  41.  Lawrence, 
C.  W.  Darling,  MS.  Letter,  Aug.  22,  N.  Hampshire  Churches,  293.  Pres. 
1904.  Hazen,  Ministry  and  Churches  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  368. 


OZIAS  EELLS,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Eells  (Harvard 
1733),  of  Upper  Middletown,  now  Cromwell,  Connecticut, 
and  a  brother  of  the  Rev.  James  Eells  (Yale  1763)  and 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Eells  (Yale  1765),  was  born  on  Septem- 
ber 2,  1755.  He  was  named  for  his  mother's  father,  Judge 
Ozias  Pitkin. 

He  studied  for  the  ministry,  and  began  preaching  on 
Long  Island,  but  the  climate  did  not  agree  with  him  and 
his  health  languished. 

He  then  went  to  the  village  of  Barkhamsted,  in  Litch- 
field  County,  Connecticut,  where  a  Congregational  Church 
had  been  gathered  in  1781. 

The  society  gave  him  about  the  year  1786  a  call  to  settle, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  109 

which  he  accepted,  after  some  hesitation,  on  account  of 
the  pioneer  work  to  be  done. 

He  was  ordained  and  installed  on  January  24,  1787,  and 
on  the  I9th  of  the  following  September  he  married  Phebe, 
second  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Ely  (Yale  1754),  of 
North  Madison,  Connecticut. 

For  twenty-six  years  he  continued  in  this  remote  and 
narrow  field,  keeping  the  sincere  respect  of  all  his  par- 
ishioners, and  giving  himself  unreservedly  to  their  service. 

He  was  of  a  tall,  erect  figure,  and  of  a  most  amiable 
disposition,  but  decided  in  his  conceptions  of  duty. 

After  three  days'  illness  from  spotted  fever,  he  died  in 
Barkhamsted  on  May  25,  1813,  in  his  58th  year.  His 
widow  died  in  Barkhamsted  on  August  5,  1829,  in  her 
69th  year.  Of  their  eight  children  two  died  in  infancy; 
three  daughters  and  three  sons  survived  their  parents. 
The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1820, 
and  became  a  Presbyterian  minister.  The  second  son 
became  a  physician. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,       Winsted   Herald,   Nos.   32-33.    Hist. 
58.    Barkhamsted   Centennial,   55-56,      of    Litchfield    County,    1881,    243-44. 
72-73,   95,   165-67.      Dwight,   Strong       Pitkin   Genealogy,    19.     T.   Robbins, 
Family,  ii,   1127.    Miss  M.  L.  Hart,       Diary,  i,  554. 
Barkhamsted    Reminiscences,   in   the 


ZEBULON  ELY,  the  third  child  and  eldest  son  of  Ezra 
Ely,  a  farmer  of  Hamburg  Society  in  North  Lyme,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Deacon  Richard  and  Elizabeth 
(Peck)  Ely,  of  Lyme,  was  born  on  February  6,  1759.  His 
mother,  Sarah  Sterling,  died  while  he  was  an  infant.  A 
half-brother  was  graduated  here  in  1786. 

He  was  prepared  for  College  by  the  Rev.  Elijah  Par- 
sons (Yale  1768),  of  East  Haddam,  Connecticut. 

In  May  of  his  Senior  year  he  joined  the  College  Church, 
and  he  apparently  remained  at  College  after  graduation 
engaged  in  the  study  of  theology.  He  was  licensed  to 


no  Yale  College 

preach  by  the  New  Haven  Association  of  Ministers,  in 
session  at  North  Guilford,  on  May  30,  1780,  and  was  occu- 
pied for  the  succeeding  months  with  brief  engagements  in 
various  places. 

While  supplying  the  pulpit  in  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  he 
was  elected  on  October  31,  1781,  to  a  Tutorship,  and  began 
his  duties  on  November  13.  He  retained  this  office,  how- 
ever, only  until  Commencement,  1782,  having  been  preach- 
ing regularly  in  the  mean  time,  and  having  received  a  call 
in  April  to  the  church  in  Lebanon,  and  another  in  August 
to  Branford.  On  September  18  he  accepted  the  Lebanon 
call,  and  was  ordained  there  on  November  13. 

A  year  later,  on  October  23,  1783,  he  married  Sarah 
(or  Sally),  youngest  daughter  of  Elisha  and  Mary 
(De  Forest)  Mills,  of  Ripton  Parish,  now  Hunting-ton, 
Connecticut. 

His  congregation  was  one  of  the  largest  in  the  State, 
and  of  more  than  average  intelligence;  and  appreciated 
his  sterling  qualities  as  a  pastor  and  preacher.  In  1804  an 
acrimonious  dispute  about  the  location  of  the  meeting- 
house caused  the  formation  of  a  new  society  and  brought 
distress  to  the  minister.  He  continued  in  full  service, 
though  suffering  through  his  life  with  constant  nervous 
headaches,  until  October,  1818,  when  a  paralytic  shock 
enfeebled  him.  A  second  shock,  in  August,  1821,  laid  him 
aside  for  two  months;  in  March,  1823,  he  was  finally  dis- 
abled from  preaching,  and  after  a  gradual  decay  of  his 
powers  he  died  in  Lebanon  on  November  18,  1824,  in  his 
66th  year. 

Mr.  Ely  was  characterized  by  soundness  and  strength  of 
intellect  rather  than  by  imagination.  He  was  reserved 
and  unsocial  in  manner,  and  seemed  able  to  talk  freely 
with  his  people  only  on  religious  topics.  He  held  pro- 
nounced evangelical  views,  which  led,  for  example,  to  the 
disuse  of  the  halfway  covenant  which  had  formerly  been 
practiced  in  his  parish. 

The  Hon.  George  S.  Hillard,  who  was  in  early  life  under 
Mr.  Ely's  charge,  says  of  him,  in  1873 : — 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  in 

He  was  a  rigid  Calvinist  in  doctrine,  but  his  natural  temper  was 
kindly,  and  I  felt  for  him  the  love  which  casteth  out  fear.  I  sup- 
pose his  attainments  to  have  been  moderate.  .  .  His  whole  library, 
as  I  recall  it,  might  have  been  transported  in  a  wheelbarrow.  .  . . 
The  good  old  man  was  mighty  in  the  Scriptures.  To  his  simple 
faith  the  events  and  the  characters  of  the  Bible  were  as  real  and 
distinct  as  the  scenes  of  his  own  life  and  the  men  and  women  of  his 
own  parish.  There  was  no  cloud  of  doubt  in  his  sky.  The  word 
of  God  was  the  object  of  his  daily  and  reverent  study,  and  not  only 
his  sermons  but  his  letters  and  his  common  speech  had  a  large 
infusion  of  the  language  of  the  Bible. 

Upon  a  salary  of  less  than  five  hundred  dollars  a  year,  aided  by 
a  small  farm  and  the  tuition  fees  of  a  few  pupils,  he  reared  a  family 
of  twelve  children,  and  left  a  comfortable  property  at  his  death. 

His  wife  died  on  December  13,  1842,  in  her  8ist  year. 
Their  entire  family,  seven  daughters  and  five  sons,  reached 
maturity. 

The  second  child,  who  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1804, 
was  named  for  President  Stiles,  under  whom  Mr.  Ely  had 
graduated  and  had  served  as  Tutor. 

This  son  published,  the  year  after  his  father's  death,  a 
thick  pamphlet  of  his  Memoirs,  mainly  in  the  form  of 
extracts  from  his  Diary,  and  including  the  sermon 
preached  at  his  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Nott  (Yale 
•1780),  of  the  adjoining  parish  of  Franklin.  These 
memoirs  witness  affectingly  to  his  humble  piety  and  con- 
secrated life. 

He  published: 

1.  The  death  of  Moses  the   Servant  of  the  Lord. — A   Sermon 
[from  Deut.  xxxiv,  5]   Preached  at  the  Funeral  Solemnity  of  His 
Excellency  Jonathan  Trumbull  Esq.  L.L.D.  late  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  August  19,  1785.    Hartford,  1786.    8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  Bozvdoin  Coll.  Brit.  Mus.  Brown  Univ. 
C.  H.  S.  M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.  U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

2.  The  frailty  of  all  flesh,  and  the  stability  of  the  word  of  the 
Lord.     A  Sermon   [from  i   Peter  i,  24-25],  Delivered  in  the  first 
society  in  Lebanon  the  Sabbath  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Jonathan  L. 
Leech,  who  departed  this  Life  .  .  January  12,  1790,  in  the  22d  Year 
of  his  Age.    Norwich,  1790.    8°,  pp.  24.         [A.  A.  S.    B.  Publ. 


ii2  Yale,  College 

3.  Evangelical  Consolation.     A  Sermon  [from  I  Thess.  iv,  18], 
delivered  at  the  Funeral  of  Mrs.  Bethiah  Huntington,  the  amiable 
consort  of  Captain  William  Huntington,  who  departed  this  Life, 
July  12,  1799  . .  Norwich,  1799.    8°,  pp.  16.       [B.  Publ.    C.  H.  S. 

4.  A  summary  of  the  duty  of  a  gospel  minister,  to  testify  the 
gospel   of  the  grace   of   God. — A   Sermon    [from   Acts   xx,   24], 
delivered  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.   Shubael   Bartlett    .  .    in 
East-Windsor,  Feb.  15,  1804.    Hartford,  1804.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[B.  Publ.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     Harv.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

5.  The  wisdom  and  duty  of  magistrates. — A  Sermon  [from  Ps. 
ii,  10-12],  preached  at  the  General  Election,  May  loth,  1804.    Hart- 
ford, 1804.     8°,  pp.  35. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

6.  A  gospel  minister,  though  young,  should  be  respectable  by  his 
example.    A  Sermon  [from  I  Tim.  iv,  12],  delivered  at  the  Ordi- 
nation of  the  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles  Ely,  to  the  pastoral  care  of  the  church 
in  West-Chester,  in  Colchester,  October  i,  1806.     Hartford,  1806. 
8°,  pp.  23. 

[B.  Ath.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Brit.  Mus.     Broivn  Univ.     C.  H.  S. 
Harv.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

Pages  21-23  are  occupied  with  the  Charge  by  the  Rev.  Elijah 
Parsons. 

7.  The  Three  Funerals. — A  Discourse    [from  Rom.  v,   12,  Job 
xxi,  23,  and  Ps.  xlvi,  10]   preached  at  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Amos 
Leech,  of  Mrs.  Lucretia  Buel,  and  of  a  young  Child,  daughter  of 
Mr.  John  and  Mrs.  Rhoda  Champion,  who  were  interred  at  one 
time,  February  15,  1809.    Windham,  1809.    8°,  pp.  15.     [C.  H.  S. 

8.  The  peaceful  end  of  the  perfect  man. — A  Discourse    [from 
Ps.  xxxvii,  37],  delivered  in  Lebanon,  at  the  Funeral  of  His  Excel- 
lency Jonathan  Trumbull,  Governor  of  the  State  of  Connecticut. 
Who  died  August  7th,  1809.  . .     Hartford,  1809.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[B.-Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     N.   Y.  H.  S. 
U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

9.  The  believer's  triumph.     A  Discourse   [from  i   Cor.  xv,  55] 
delivered  in  Lebanon,  October  14,  1810,  occasioned  by  the  death  of 
Solomon  Williams,   Esq.   of   New- York    ..    Hartford,    1811.     8°, 
pp.  15.  [Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

10.  A  ripe  shock  seasonably  gathered.    A  Discourse  [from  Gen. 


Biographical  Sketches,  ///p  113 

xxv,  8],  occasioned  by  the  death  of  the  Honourable  William 
Williams,  Esq.  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  who  died  August  2,  1811. 
.  .  Hartford,  1812.  8°,  pp.  15. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brown  Univ.     C.  •#.  5.     Harv.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

ii.  Revelation  necessary  to  Salvation. — A  Sermon  [from  Prov. 
xxix,  18],  delivered  in  Thompson,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Foreign 
Mission  Society  of  Windham  County,  Oct.  4,  1815.  Hartford, 
1815.  8°,  pp.  1 6.  [B.  Ath,  Brit.  Mus.  C.  H.  S.  Y.  C. 

Pages  12-16  are  occupied  with  an  account  of  the  Society. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,  Nichols,  Historical  Sermon  at  Leba- 
88.  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiasti-  non,  20-22.  Ely  Ancestry,  99,  180-81. 
cal  Hist,  of  Conn.,  414-15.  DeFor-  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit, 
ests  of  Avesnes,  227.  Hillard,  Mem-  ii,  192.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 
oir  of  Jeremiah  Mason,  7,  39-40.  ii,  333,  551,  562-64;  iii,  45,  80. 


STEPHEN  FOWLER,  the  third  son  of  Josiah  Fowler,  Jun- 
ior, of  the  parish  of  Northford,  in  the  present  town  of 
North  Branford,  and  grandson  of  Josiah  Fowler,  of  Guil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Northford  on  May  8,  1756. 

Soon  after  graduation  he  removed  to  Fairfield,  Con- 
necticut, where  he  kept  a  boys'  school  for  a  number  of 
years,  the  elder  Professor  Silliman  being  among  his  pupils. 
About  1790,  in  company  with  Mr.  Wright  White,  he 
entered  into  the  shipping  and  general  merchandise  busi- 
ness in  Newbern,  North  Carolina.  The  firm  owned  several 
vessels,  on  which  groceries  and  other  goods  were  trans- 
ported from  New  York  to  Newbern,  where  they  were 
exchanged  with  the  planters  for  tar,  turpentine,  staves, 
and  other  products.  The  partnership  was  dissolved  after 
a  few  years  by  Mr.  White's  death,  but  Mr.  Fowler  con- 
tinued the  business,  and  in  some  of  his  ventures  was  quite 
successful. 

In  1808  Joseph  E.  Sheffield,  the  future  founder  of  the 

Scientific  School,  entered  Mr.  Fowler's  employ  as  a  clerk; 

and  on  reaching  his  majority,  in  1814,  he  became  a  partner 

in  the  business  for  a  short  time.     The  shipping  business 

8 


ii4  Yale  College 

was,  however,  given  up  in  consequence  of  the  embargo  in 
•1813,  and  in  1815  the  eldest  son  of  Mr.  Fowler  was  taken 
into  partnership,  and  the  mercantile  business  conducted 
under  the  name  of  Joseph  Fowler  &  Company;  about  1819 
the  business  was  transferred  to  Bay  River,  a  few  miles  to 
the  eastward,  where  it  was  continued  until  the  senior  part- 
ner's death. 

Mr.  Fowler  married  on  October  20,  1785,  Mary,  eldest 
surviving  child  of  Joseph  and  Comfort  (Nichols)  Strong 
of  (North)  Bridgeport,  Connecticut. 

The  family  residence  continued  in  Fairfield  until  about 
1823,  though  for  many  years  before  the  war  of  1812  Mr. 
Fowler  was  frequently  in  the  habit  of  taking  his  wife  and 
children  on  one  of  his  vessels  to  Newbern  in  the  fall,  and 
sending  them  back  in  the  spring.  About  1823  they  settled 
in  Bay  River  permanently,  and  Mrs.  Fowler  died  on  June 
13,  1826,  in  her  6oth  year,  while  on  board  one  of  her  hus- 
band's vessels  in  its  passage  from  Bay  River  to  Fairfield. 
Her  husband  died  in  Bay  River  on  March  24,  1829,  in  his 
73d  year.  Both  were  brought  to  Fairfield  for  burial. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  four  sons,  all 
of  whom  lived  to  maturity. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight,     Strong    Family,    i,    717.       1900.     Perry,  Old  Burying  Ground  of 
John  S.  Fowler,  MS.  Letter,  Apr.  26,       Fairfield,  206-07. 


ELIZUR  GOODRICH,  second  son  and  child  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Elizur  Goodrich  (Yale  1752),  of  Durham,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  Durham  on  March  24,  1761. 

On  the  invasion  of  New  Haven,  in  July  of  his  Senior 
year,  he  was  one  of  the  party  of  students  who  went  out  to 
repel  the  British,  and  was  subsequently  wounded  and  taken 
prisoner  but  escaped. 

At  graduation  the  Berkeley  Scholarship  was  awarded 
to  him,  and  he  also  delivered  the  Latin  Valedictory  oration 
to  his  class. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  115 

He  was  elected  to  a  tutorship  in  College  in  September, 
1781,  and  began  duty  at  the  beginning  of  the  ensuing 
term.  He  held  office  for  two  years,  and  then  resigned  to 
enter  on  the  practice  of  law  in  New  Haven,  having  pur- 
sued professional  studies  under  the  tuition  of  his  uncle, 
Hon.  Charles  Chauncey. 

He  married  on  September  I,  1785,  Anne  (or  Nancy) 
Willard,  only  daughter  of  Daniel  Allen,  a  master  builder 
of  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts,  whose  widow  Esther 
had  recently  married  Deacon  David  Austin,  of  New 
Haven. 

In  1789  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil of  the  city,  and  was  re-elected  for  the  four  following 
years;  he  then  served  as  Alderman  until  1800,  and  then 
again  for  three  years  was  one  of  the  Council.  In  1803  he 
was  elected  Mayor,  and  continued  in  that  office  until  his 
resignation  in  1822,  after  which  he  was  twice  re-elected 
Alderman. 

In  May,  1795,  he  was  chosen  a  representative  in  the 
General  Assembly,  and  filled  that  station  in  thirteen  ses- 
sions to  1802,  during  which  time  he  served  as  Clerk  of 
the  House  in  six  sessions,  and  as  Speaker  in  two.  In  1803 
he  wras  promoted  to  a  seat  in  the  Governor's  Council,  which 
he  held  until  the  change  in  the  State  Constitution  in  1818. 

In  1799  he  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress,  and  soon 
made  himself  known  in  the  House  as  a  man  of  sound 
judgment  and  strong  reasoning  powers;  but  early  in  1801 
he  was  led  to  resign  on  his  appointment  by  President 
Adams  as  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  Haven,  in  suc- 
cession to  Deacon  Austin,  his  wife's  step-father.  He  was, 
however,  removed  from  office  by  President  Jefferson  soon 
after  his  inauguration. 

From  1802  he  was  the  Judge  of  the  Probate  district  of 
New  Haven,  and  on  the  death  of  Simeon  Bristol  (Yale 
1760),  in  October,  1805,  he  was  appointed  chief  Judge  of 
the  County  Court;  but  he  was  retired  from  both  these 
offices  as  the  result  of  the  political  change  in  1818. 


n6  Yale  College 

In  1 80 1  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Law  in  Yale 
College,  and  as  such  he  delivered  courses  of  lectures  on 
the  law  of  nature  and  of  nations,  but  resigned  the  office  in 
1810,  as  interfering  too  much  with  other  public  duties. 

As  one  of  the  Senior  Senators  of  the  State,  he  was  ex 
officio  a  member  of  the  Yale  Corporation  from  1809  to 
1818,  and  on  his  retirement  from  this  office  he  was  elected 
Secretary  of  the  Board,  and  so  continued  until  1846.  He 
received  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1830. 

He  died  in  New  Haven  on  November  I,  1849,  m  n^s 
SQth  year.  His  wife  died  in  New  Haven,  after  a  week's 
illness,  from  lung  fever,  on  November  17,  1818,  aged  51 
years.  Their  children  were  two  sons  and  one  daughter. 
The  elder  son  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1806. 
The  younger  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1810,  and 
became  an  eminent  Professor  here.  The  daughter  married 
the  Hon.  Henry  L.  Ellsworth  (Yale  1810). 

Professor  Kingsley  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Goodrich's  death 
wrote  of  him : — 

He  was  distinguished  for  the  clearness  &  strength  of  his  judg- 
ment, the  ease  and  accuracy  with  which  he  transacted  business,  and 
the  kindness  and  affability  which  he  uniformly  manifested  in  all  the 
relations  of  life.  His  reading  was  extensive  and  minute,  and  what 
is  not  very  common  in  public  men,  he  kept  up  his  acquaintance  with 
the  ancient  classics  to  the  last;  being  accustomed  to  read  the 
writings  of  Cicero,  Livy,  Sallust,  Virgil  and  Horace  down  to  the 
89th  year  of  his  age,  with  all  the  ease  and  interest  of  his  early  days. 

His  cordial  manner,  extensive  information,  and  genial 
humor,  combined  with  unusual  conversational  powers, 
made  his  presence  in  society  particularly  agreeable. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  from  the  time  of  his  enter- 
ing College  in  1775,  he  was  uninterruptedly  connected 
with  the  Institution,  either  as  a  student,  resident  graduate, 
tutor,  assistant  to  the  Treasurer,  Professor,  member  of 
the  Corporation,  or  Secretary  of  that  Board,  for  the  space 
of  seventy-one  years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  117 

AUTHORITIES. 

Case,  Goodrich  Family,  75,  127-28.       ii,  333,  346,  556,  561-62;    iii,  97,  378. 
Johnston,  Yale  in  the  Revolution,  343.       Talcott,  Genealogical  Notes  of  N.  Y. 
New   Haven   City  Year   Book,    1863,    '- and  N.  E.  Families,  536. 
91-93.     Pres.   Stiles,  Literary   Diary, 


SILAS  HAZELTINE/ the  eldest  child  of  Silas  Hazeltine, 
of  Sutton,  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  and  grand- 
son of  John  and  Jane  Hazeltine,  of  Sutton,  was  born  in 
that  town  on  March  25,  1759.  His  mother,  Judith,  eldest 
child  of  Dr.  Benjamin  and  Abigail  (Dudley)  Morse,  of 
Sutton,  married  in  July  of  his  Senior  year  Eli  Whitney, 
the  father  of  the  eminent  Yale  graduate  (1792)  of  that 
name,  of  the  neighboring  town  of  Westborough. 

He  married  in  the  summer  of  1783,  Hannah,  third 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Martha  (Death)  Baker,  of  West- 
borough,  and  settled  in  mercantile  business  in  Templeton, 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  same  county.  He  attained  the 
rank  of  Colonel  in  the  militia. 

His  father-in-law,  Squire  Baker,  afterwards  became  the 
principal  proprietor  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in  northwest- 
ern Vermont,  to  which  he  removed  about  1790  and  which 
was  called  Bakersfield  from  his  name. 

At  the  urgent  desire  of  Mr.  Baker,  Colonel  Hazeltine 
very  reluctantly  left  Templeton  and  removed  to  Bakers- 
field,  where  he  arrived  on  March  I,  1800. 

He  was  a  prosperous  merchant  and  farmer,  and  took  a 
leading  part  in  village  affairs.  He  was  elected  a  Repre- 
sentative in  the  General  Assembly  in  1807  and  1808. 

He  died  in  Bakersfield  on  June  15,  1814,  in  his  56th 
year.  His  widow  died  there  in  1837. 

Their  children  were  five  sons-  (of  whom  all  but  one  died 
young)  and  four  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Benedict  and  Tracy,  Hist,  of  Sut-       Historical     Gazetteer,     ii,     104,     108. 
ton,  660.  698.     S.  B.  Hazeltine,  MS.       Westborough  Vital  Records,  169. 
Letters,    1866.     Hemenway,  Vermont 


nS  Yale  College 

SAMUEL  WILLIAM  JOHNSON,  son  of  the  Hon.  William 
Samuel  Johnson  (Yale  1744),  was  born  in  Stratford,  Con- 
necticut, on  October  23,  1761. 

He  settled  in  Stratford  as  a  lawyer,  and  served  as 
Representative  in  the  General  Assembly  in  seven  sessions 
between  1790  and  1797.  In  1815  he  was  elected  an 
Assistant,  and  held  that  office  for  three  years. 

In  1807  he  succeeded  the  Hon.  Joseph  Platt  Cooke  (Yale 
1750)  as  Presiding  Judge  of  the  Fairfield  County  Court, 
but  laid  down  the  office  in  1811,  in  which  year  he  was 
elected  Judge  of  the  Probate  Court  for  Stratford  District. 
He  was  superseded  in  this  office  by  the  political  revolution 
in  1818. 

The  remaining  years  of  a  long  and  happy  life  were 
spent  peacefully  in  Stratford,  where  he  died,  very  sud- 
denly, after  a  few  months  of  failing  powers,  while  he  was 
out  driving,  on  Sunday  morning,  October  25,  1846,  at  the 
age  of  85. 

He  was  married  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bela  Hubbard,  on 
November  27,  1791,  to  Susan,  eldest  child  of  the  Hon. 
Pierpont  Edwards  (Princeton  1768)  and  Frances  (Og- 
den)  Edwards,  of  New  Haven.  She  died  in  Stratford,  of 
old  age,  on  February  19,  1856,  in  her  8$th  year.  Their 
children  were  two  daughters  and  three  sons.  The  second 
son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1823,  and  the  others,  being 
graduates  of  Union  College  (in  1816  and  1827),  received 
ad  eundem  degrees  here. 

He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  was  dis- 
tinguished for  the  frankness  and  urbanity  of  his  manners, 
as  well  as  for  the  kindness  and  generosity  of  his  feelings. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  435, 
25.     Dwight  Family,  ii,  1043.     Orcutt,       546. 
Hist,  of   Stratford,  i,  605 ;    ii,  1226. 


Biographical  Sketches,  ///p  119 

AMBROSE  KIRTLAND  was  a  son  of  Ambrose  Kirtland,  of 
Saybrook,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Samuel  and  Mar- 
tha (Whittlesey)  Kirtland,  of  Saybrook. 

He  died  in  Saybrook  on  January  7,  1784,  aged  about  24 
years. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Chapman,  Pratt  Family,  268. 


JONATHAN  MALTBY,  the  fourth  son  and  child  of  Deacon 
Benjamin  Maltby,  of  Northford,  in  (North)  Branford, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Daniel  and  Esther  (Moss) 
Maltby,  of  Branford,  was  born  on  May  2,  1759.  His 
mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Hannah 
(Baldwin)  Fowler,  of  Durham,  Connecticut. 

He  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Trum- 
bull  (Yale  1759),  of  North  Haven,  Connecticut,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  Association  on  May 
27,  1783. 

After  a  short  experience  in  the  ministry,  he  was  obliged 
by  pulmonary  hemorrhage  to  give  up  preaching.  By 
medical  advice  he  then  went  to  Savannah,  Georgia,  and 
remained  there  for  a  year  or  two.  On  his  return  he 
engaged  in  mercantile  business,  at  first  in  New  Haven  and 
later  in  Northford.  Subsequently  he  was  the  teacher  of 
an  academy  in  Killingworth,  Connecticut,  and  then  for 
three  years  carried  on  a  farm  in  Vernon,  Oneida  County, 
New  York. 

He  finally  returned  to  New  Haven,  and  lived  in  retire- 
ment in  the  suburbs  of  the  city.  He  died  at  his  residence 
in  Fair  Haven,  on  September  14,  1850,  in  his  92d  year, 
being  supposed  to  be  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  oldest 
inhabitant  of  the  city,  and  the  last  survivor  of  his  Class. 

He  married,  on  June  17,  1787,  Submit,  daughter  of 
Nathaniel  and  Submit  (Tyler)  Tainter,  of  Northford,  and 
had  by  her  a  family  of  six  sons  and  two  daughters.  His 
wife  died  on  December  18,  1848,  at  the  age  of  85. 


120  Yale  College 

A  paper  of  his  reminiscences  of  revolutionary  incidents 
is  printed  in  the  Genealogy  of  the  Maltby  family. 

He  was  beloved  for  his  amiable  and  fervent  Christian 
character,  a  combination  of  gentleness  and  conscientious 
firmness. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  v,       26,  37-40. 
17.       Maltby-Morehouse   Family,    18, 


NICHOLAS  SHELTON  MASTERS,,  eldest  son  and  third  child 
of  James  and  Eunice  (Rogers)  Masters,  of  Judea  Society, 
in  Woodbury,  now  the  township  of  Washington,  Connect- 
icut, was  born  on  May  20,  1759. 

He  read  law  with  Daniel  Everett,  of  New  Milford,  Con- 
necticut, and  followed  the  profession  after  his  admission 
to  the  bar  in  1785,  in  New  Milford,  which  he  represented 
in  the  General  Assembly  in  May,  1792,  and  again  in  May, 

1794.  He  held  the  rank  of  Captain  in  the  local  militia. 
He  was  removed  by  an  early  death,  on  September  12, 

1795,  in  his  37th  year. 

He  first  married,  on  January  28,  1781,  Hannah,  eldest 
child  of  Colonel  Josiah  and  Sarah  (Mygatt)  Starr,  of 
New  Milford,  who  died  on  December  I,  1781,  aged  21 
years,  leaving  one  son,  who  died  in  early  manhood. 

He  next  married,  on  May  9,  1786,  Tamar,  younger 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Nathanael  Taylor  (Yale  1745),  of 
New  Milford.  She  died  on  December  u,  1842,  aged  83 
years.  

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,  and  Civil  Hist,  of  Conn.,  239.  Or- 
117-18.  Boardman  Genealogy,  274.  cutt,  Hist,  of  New  Milford,  232,  259, 
Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  452;  769,  774,  821,  858.  Starr  Family,  389. 
iii,  51.  Loomis  and  Calhoun,  Judicial  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  546. 


SHADRACH  MEAD,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Titus 
and  Rachel  (Rundle)  Mead,  of  Greenwich,  Connecticut, 


Biographical  Sketches, 


121 


and  grandson  of  Caleb  and  Mary  (Holmes)  Mead,  of 
Greenwich,  was  born  on  January  15,  1758. 

He  was  through  his  life  a  practicing  physician  in  Green- 
wich, and  died  there  on  September  16,  1844,  in  his  87th 
year. 

He  married,  first,  Tammy  Hobby,  who  died  on  April  21, 
1814,  aged  50  years;  and  secondly,  Abigail  Ingersoll, 
who  died  on  April  7,  1875,  aged  94  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Mead  Family  Genealogy,  291-92. 


JOHN  NOYES.,  the  second  son  of  John  Noyes  (Yale 
1753),  was  born  in  New  Haven  on  August  27,  1762.  His 
father  died  in  1767,  and  his  mother  next  married,  in  May, 
1775,  General  Gold  S.  Silliman  (Yale  1752),  of  Fairfield, 
Connecticut. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Western  Association  of  Fairfield  County 
on  October  14,  1783. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Sherwood  (Yale  1749),  minister  of 
the  small  and  scattered  flock  in  Norfield  Parish  (in  Fair- 
field),  now  Weston,  Connecticut,  died  in  office  in  May, 
1783;  and  Mr.  Noyes  preached  his  first  sermon  in  this 
pulpit. 

In  due  time  he  was  called  to  settle  in  Norfield,  and  was 
ordained  there  on  May  31,  1786,  on  a  salary  of  $250  and 
forty  loads  of  wood. 

He  served  this  people  with  great  acceptance  until 
March,  1806,  when  his  voice  failed  and  a  general  prostra- 
tion disabled  him, — the  result  of  over-exertion  in  his  call- 
ing. After  a  year's  rest,  seeing  no  prospect  of  a  speedy 
recovery,  he  concurred  with  the  society  in  his  dismissal, 
which  was  ratified  by  vote  of  the  Consociation  on  May  26, 
1807.  His  residence  continued  in  Weston. 

In  the  fall  of  1808  he  ventured  to  resume  occasional 


122  Yale  College 

preaching,  and  for  the  next  fifteen  years  was  employed  as 
supply  by  his  old  church  and  by  various  other  vacant 
churches  in  the  vicinity;  among  the  societies  which  he 
thus  served,  were  the  First  Church  in  Greenwich  (1810- 
23),  the  church  in  Monroe  (1813-14),  the  church  in 
Ridgefield  (1814-17),  and  the  church  in  Darien  (1820- 
23).  After  1823  he  confined  his  labors  to  his  own  church, 
and  after  December,  1835,  he  retired  in  the  main  from 
further  service. 

In  the  midst  of  a  peaceful  and  happy  old  age,  he  died  in 
Weston,  of  lung  fever,  after  six  days'  illness,  on  May  15, 
1846,  aged  nearly  84  years. 

He  married  on  March  8,  1786,  Eunice  Sherwood,  of 
Weston,  a  daughter  of  his  predecessor  in  office,  by  whom 
he  had  seven  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of  whom  grew  to 
maturity  except  one  daughter  who  died  in  infancy.  The 
youngest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1824;  and  the 
fifth  son  died  while  a  member  of  College. 

His  wife  died  on  March  25,  1824,  in  her  64th  year,  and 
he  married  secondly,  on  October  16,  1827,  Fanny,  widow 
of  Thomas  Swan,  Jr.,  of  Stonington,  Connecticut,  and 
eldest  daughter  of  Amos  and  Phebe  (Brown)  Palmer,  of 
Stonington.  She  was  born  on  July  9,  1776,  and  survived 
Mr.  Noyes. 

An  epitaph,  written  by  his  half-brother,  Professor  Silli- 
man,  thus  characterizes  him: — 

In  temper,  meek  and  patient,  in  duty,  cheerful  and  active,  through 
a  long  and  useful  life  he  diffused  blessings  around  him.  A  man  of 
God,  a  Christian  philanthropist,  he  lived  revered  and  beloved  and 
died  lamented  by  all. 

A  ministerial  neighbor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edwin  Hall,  of 
Norwalk,  wrote  of  him  in  the  New  York  Observer: — 

No  other  minister  was  so  extensively  known  in  this  region,  and 
no  one  was  more  universally  beloved.  . . .  His  disposition,  as  well 
as  his  principle,  seemed  always  to  be,  to  harm  no  one,  to  speak  evil 
of  none,  to  give  unnecessary  pain  to  no  creature;  but  to  promote, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  123 

as  far  as  he  was  able,  the  stock  of  human  happiness.  It  is  rare  to 
find  any  one  so  attentive  to  his  friends  as  was  "Father  Noyes"; 
and  rare  to  find  one  whose  personal  friends  are  so  numerous.  .  . . 
His  preaching  was  sound,  sober,  instructive,  experimental ;  never 
startling.  But  as  a  Barnabas,  a  Son  of  Consolation,  he  was  pre- 
eminent. 

He  published: 

1.  A  Discourse  [from  i  Cor.  ii,  i,  2],  delivered  in  Norfield,  May 
29th,  1836,  at  the  close  of  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  ministry.     New 
Haven,  1839.    8°,  pp.  20.  [C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

2.  Letters,  chiefly  of  a  moral  and  religious  nature  to  friends  of 
various  conditions.    New  Haven,  1844.     12°,  pp.  252  -(-  pi. 

[L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     Y.  C. 

Accompanied  by  an  engraving  of  the  author. 

After  his  death  was  published: — 

A  Sermon  [from  2  Cor.  i,  12],  written  by  Rev.  John  Noyes,  of 
Weston,  Ct.  (deceased,)  for  the  occasion  of  the  Sixtieth  Anni- 
versary of  his  ministry,  and  which  was  Read  to  the  Congregation 
on  that  day,  May  31,  1846,  being  two  weeks  after  his  death.  New- 
York,  1846.  8°,'pp-  16.  [Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Childs,  Hist,  of  ist  Congregational  1786.     Noyes  Family,  ii,  89,  105.    B. 

Church,    Greenwich,    12-13.      Contri-  Silliman,  MS.  Diary,  May  14-18,  Aug. 

butions  to  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Conn,,  303,  2,    1846.     Sprague,    Annals    of    the 

37O.  395,  428,  470,  503.    Davis,  Hist.  Amer.  Pulpit,  i,  362.     Wheeler,  Hist, 

of  Wallingford,  860-70.     5\  G.  Good-  of   Stonington,  491,  521,  615 ;    Hist. 

rich,  Recollections  of  a  Lifetime,   i,  of  the  First  Church,  Stonington,  275. 
178-79.    New-Haven  Gazette,  June  8, 


ELISHA  PAINE,  the  only  son  of  Solomon  and  Mary 
(Bacon)  Payne,  of  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  and  grand- 
son of  Solomon  and  Priscilla  (Fitch)  Payne,  was  born  in 
Canterbury  on  July  2,  1757.  His  grandfather  was  the 
first  minister  of  the  Separate  Church  in  Canterbury. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  practiced  a  little 
in  his  native  town,  but  fell  into  intemperate  habits  and 
died  in  Canterbury  on  January  21,  1803,  aged  45^  years. 


124  Yale  College 

He  married  Anne  Dyer,  of  Canterbury,  and  left  six 
children. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Rev.  R.  C.  Learned,  MS.  Letter. 


SAMUEL  PITKIN,  the  second  son  and  child  of  'Squire 
Elisha  Pitkin  (Yale  1753),  of  East  Hartford,  Connecti- 
cut, was  born  in  East  Hartford  on  May  8,  1760. 

He  had  a  useful  and  prominent  career  in  his  native  vil- 
lage. He  built,  owned,  and  operated  the  first  cotton-mill 
in  Connecticut  (opened  in  1794),  and  was  also  largely 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  gunpowder.  He  rose  in 
the  militia  to  the  rank  of  Major  in  the  Artillery  (in  1798) ; 
was  town-clerk  and  treasurer  from  1801  to  1836;  was  a 
representative  in  the  Legislature  in  twenty-one  sessions 
from  1802  to  1815;  and  a  deacon  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  East  Hartford  from  1813  until  his  death. 

He  early  saw  the  usefulness  of  Sabbath-school  instruc- 
tion, and  in  1819  established  such  a  school  and  was  its 
first  superintendent.  He  was  one  of  the,  original  incor- 
porators  of  the  Theological  Institute  of  Connecticut  (at 
East  Windsor)  in  1830. 

He  married  on  July  25,  1792,  Sarah  (or  Sally),  the  only 
child  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Parsons  (Harvard  1752),  of 
West  Brookfield,  Massachusetts,  whose  widow,  Sarah 
(Williams),  had  married  in  1777  the  Rev.  Eliphalet  Wil- 
liams (Yale  1743),  of  East  Hartford.  Mrs.  Pitkin  was 
a  lady  of  rare  accomplishments  and  of  eminent  piety. 

Their  children  were  two  daughters  and  one  son,  all  of 
whom  survived  their  parents. 

Major  Pitkin  died  in  East  Hartford  on  December  24, 
1839,  m  ms  8oth  year.  His  wife  died,  also  in  her  8oth 
year,  on  December  I,  1843. 

He  is  still  remembered  as  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school, 
who  wore  to  the  last  his  knee  breeches  and  silk  stockings, 
and  his  long  white  hair  gathered  in  a  queue.  In  manner 


Biographical  Sketches,  7779  125 

he  was  courteous  and  genial.    A  good  engraving  from  his 
portrait  is  given  in  the  Pitkin  Family  Genealogy. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  ii,       bull,   Hist,    of    Hartford    County,   ii, 
86.     Goodwin,  East  Hartford,  229-30.       103,  251.     Williams  Family,  108-12. 
Pitkin  Family,  Ixxv,  30,  57.     Trum- 


MATTHEW  TALCOTT  RUSSELL,  the  second  son  of  the  Rev. 
Noadiah  Russell  (Yale  1750),  of  Thompson,  Connecticut, 
was  born  on  March  19,  1761. 

He  was  named  for  Colonel  Matthew  Talcott,  of  Middle- 
town,  Connecticut  (his  father's  native  place),  who  had 
married  his  aunt,  and  had  no  children  of  his  own;  and 
Colonel  Talcott  met  the  expenses  of  his  education. 

He  had  already  begun  the  study  of  law  with  the  Hon. 
Oliver  Ellsworth,  of  Windsor,  Connecticut,  when  he 
entered  on  a  tutorship  at  the  opening  of  the  College  year 
in  November,  1782.  He  was  admitted  to  the  College 
church  on  profession  of  his  faith  in  August,  1785.  After 
an  unusually  successful  experience  as  a  tutor,  he  resigned 
the  office  in  May,  1786. 

He  had  already  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  on  January  5, 
1786,  and  now  settled  in  practice  in  Middletown. 

Though  of  a  slender  constitution  and  delicate  health,  he 
was  able  through  great  care  and  prudence  to  attend  con- 
tinually to  his  professional  concerns.  He  was  accurate 
and  methodical  in  every  thing,  and  therefore  well  fitted  to 
transact  the  class  of  business  which  was  entrusted  to  his 
hands.  He  was  for  some  years  State's  Attorney  for  Mid- 
dlesex County,  and  for  sixteen  years  City  Treasurer. 

•  The  community  respected  him  for  his  integrity  and 
faithfulness,  and  the  church  honored  him  for  his  consist- 
ent Christian  character,  electing  him  as  a  Deacon  in  April, 
1798,  which  office  he  held  till  his  death.  He  died  in  Win- 
chester, Connecticut,  on  November  13,  1828,  aged  nearly 
68  years. 


126  Yale  College 

He  married,  on  September  17,  1797,  Mary,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Enoch  Huntington  (Yale  1759),  of 
Middletown,  who  died  on  June  9,  1857,  aged  nearly  88 
years.  Their  children  were  seven  daughters  and  six  sons. 
The  fifth  son  was  graduated  here  in  1833,  and  the  sixth 
daughter  married  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Southmayd  (Yale  1834). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,      211,    228.     H.    R.    Stiles,    Hist,    of 
117.      Field,   Centennial   Address   at       Wethersfield,    ii,    602,   604.      Talcott, 
Middletown,   211,   231.      Huntington       Geneal.   Notes  of   N.  Y.  and  N.  E. 
Family  Memoir,  174-75.    Pres.  Ezra       Families,  676-77. 
Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  45,  174-75, 


WILLIAM  SEYMOUR,  the  second  son  and  child  of  the 
Hon.  Thomas  Seymour  (Yale  1755),  of  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, was  born  in  Hartford  on  December  28,  1758. 

He  was  with  his  uncle,  Colonel  William  Ledyard,  when 
Arnold  attacked  New  London  in  September,  1781,  and 
while  assisting  in  the  defence  of  Fort  Griswold  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  the  river  was  terribly  wounded.  One  of 
his  legs  was  amputated  above  the  knee,  but  he  was  able 
eventually  to  engage  in  mercantile  business  in  Hartford, 
where  he  lived  to  old  age.  He  died  in  the  adjoining  town 
of  Bloomfield,  on  December  20,  1843,  at  the  age  of  85 
years.  He  was  never  married. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Johnston,  Yale  in  the  Revolution,  343.     N.  Y.  Geneal.  Record,  xi,   117-18. 


JOHN  STEVENS  was  born  in  Danbury,  Connecticut,  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  year  1750.  He  became  a  Christian 
in  November,  1770,  in  his  2ist  year,  and  came  to  College 
from  New  Milford,  Connecticut,  but  did  not  enter  at  the 
opening  of  the  course. 

He  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1780  by  the  Litchfield  South  Association  of  Ministers. 
In  1781  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  a  Congregational 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  127 

church  in  New  Concord  Society,  in  the  town  of  Chatham, 
Columbia  County,  New  York.  On  May  13,  1781,  he  mar- 
ried Phebe,  eldest  child  of  Lemuel  and  Sarah  (Gaylord) 
Warner,  of  New  Milford. 

He  was  dismissed  from  his  pastorate  in  1793,  after 
twelve  years  of  satisfactory  service. 

In  the  town  of  New  Marlborough,  in  Berkshire  County, 
Massachusetts,  a  controversy  arose  in  the  year  1793 
respecting  the  location  of  a  new  meeting-house:  the  con- 
sequence of  which  was,  that  a  second  church,  in  what  was 
named  the  South  Parish,  was  organized  in  April,  1794, 
over  which  Mr.  Stevens  was  installed  on  October  22.  The 
church  then  consisted  of  twenty-nine  members,  and  nine 
more  were  added  during  his  brief  ministry. 

He  died  in  New  Marlborough  on  the  evening  of  Sun- 
day, January  6,  1799,  in  his  49th  year,  "after  a  long  season 
of  most  painful  and  wasting  disorders." 

His  wife  next  married,  on  October  24,  1810,  the  Rev. 
Peter  Starr  (Yale  1764),  of  Warren,  Connecticut,  who 
died  in  1829.  She  died  oil  March  3,  1832,  in  her  74th 
year. 

During  his  last  illness  Mr.  Stevens  wrote  an  address  to 
his  people,  and  delivered  it  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob  Catlin 
(Yale  1784),  the  minister  of  the  mother  parish  in  New 
Marlborough,  to  read  at  his  funeral,  which  was  done  with 
solemn  effect:  it  was  subsequently  printed  with  the  title: 

A  Posthumous  Publication,  of  some  of  the  Writings  of  the  late 
Rev.  John  Stevens.  .  .  Hartford,  1799.  12°,  pp.  35. 

[V.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

A  second  edition  also  appeared,  with  the  title: — The  Valedictory 
Address  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Stevens.  . .  Preceded  by  an  account 
of  his  religious  experiences,  and  Thoughts  on  experimental 
religion.  Hartford,  1800.  12°,  pp.  24. 

[C.  H.  S,     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

Two  of  his  sermons,  The  Church  of  Christ  essentially  the  same, 
in  all  Ages,  from  Eph.  i,  22-23,  were  published  in  Sermons  on 
important  subjects,  Hartford,  1797.  8°,  pp.  61-109. 


128  Yale  College 

The  sermon  preached  at  his  funeral  by  Dr.  Catlin  was 
also  printed. 

Mr.  Stevens  was  a  man  of  uniform  and  affectionate 
seriousness,  and  was  greatly  beloved.  He  served  his 
people  with  great  prudence  and  with  unremitting  ardor. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,       195.     Orcutt,  Hist,  of  New  Milford, 
117.     Field,  etc..  Hist,  of  Berkshire,       792. 


JEREMIAH  TOWNSEND,  Junior,  the  eldest  child  of  Jere- 
miah Townsend,  of  New  Haven,  and  grandson  of  Jere- 
miah and  Hannah  (Kneeland)  Townsend,  of  Boston  and 
New  Haven,  was  born  here  on  June  27,  1761,  and  was 
baptized  on  September  20.  His  mother  was  Abigail,  eld- 
est child  of  Judge  Timothy  and  Abigail  (Day)  Wood- 
bridge,  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  and  sister  of 
Enoch  Woodbridge  (Yale  1774). 

He  settled  in  New  Haven,  and  married  here,  on  January 
4,  1784,  Anna,  fourth  child  of  Jeremiah  Atwater  (Steward 
of  Yale  College)  and  Anne  (Mix)  Atwater. 

He  was  associated  in  business  with  his  father-in-law  as 
a  shipping  merchant,  but  died  of  yellow  fever  in  New 
Haven,  on  July  22,  1805,  aged  44  years.  He  bore  an  excel- 
lent reputation  in  the  community.  The  inventory  of  his 
estate  was  about  $18,525. 

His  wife  survived  him,  and  died  suddenly,  of  apoplexy, 
on  August  10,  1852,  in  her  88th  year.  Their  children 
were  five  daughters  and  three  sons ;  of  whom  one  daugh- 
ter and  one  son  died  young. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Atwater    History    and    Genealogy,       riages,  i,   16.     Mitchell,  Woodbridge 
137,   182.     Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Mar-       Record,  59.     Tuttle  Family,  150. 


SAMUEL  WEBB,  the  second  son  and  fifth  child  of  Colonel 
Charles  Webb,  of  Stamford,  Connecticut,  a  distinguished 
officer  of  the  Revolution,  and  his  wife,  Mercy  Holly,  and 


Biographical  Sketches,  ///p  129 

grandson  of  Charles  and  Mary  (Smith)  Webb,  of  Stam- 
ford, was  born  in  that  town  on  March  7,  1760. 

Upon  graduation  he  entered  on  the  study  of  medicine 
in  his  native  town  with  Dr.  John  Wilson,  whose  elder 
daughter,  Molly,  he  married  on  December  15,  1781.  He 
practiced  his  profession  successfully  in  Stamford  until  his 
death,  enjoying  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  commu- 
nity to  a  remarkable  degree. 

He  died  very  suddenly,  of  enlargement  of  the  heart,  in 
Stamford,  on  December  29,  1826,  in  his  67th  year,  having 
previously  enjoyed  uninterrupted  good  health  through  his 
life. 

His  wife  bore  him  four  sons  and  six  daughters;  and 
after  her  death  he  married  Miss  White,  of  Ballston,  New 
York,  by  whom  he  had  one  son  and  three  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.   Medical   Society's   Proceed-      Registration,     122.     Wilcox,    Meigs, 
ings,  1853,  32-33.    Huntington,  Hist.       and  Webb  Families,  58,  63. 
of  Stamford,  364-65,  425;    Stamford 


GEORGE  WELLES,  son  of  John  Welles,  of  Glastonbury, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  the  Honorable  Thomas  and 
Martha  (Pitkin)  Welles,  of  Glastonbury,  was  born  in  that 
town  on  February  13,  1756.  His  mother  was  Jerusha, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Edwards  of  Hartford. 

In  his  Senior  year  he  commanded  the  company  of  stu- 
dents who  volunteered  to  oppose  the  British  invasion  of 
New  Haven;  and  a  sketch  taken  of  him  in  that  capacity 
by  St.  John  Honey  wood  (Yale  1782)  is  in  possession  of 
his  family  and  has  been  reproduced  in  print  (e.  g.,  in  Pres- 
ident Stiles's  Diary). 

He  settled  in  his  native  town,  but  in  1798  removed  to 
Tioga  Point,  now  Athens,  in  Bradford  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, near  the  New  York  line,  where  he  was  soon 
appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  became  land  agent 
for  the  Hon.  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrolton.  He  held  a 
license  as  innkeeper  in  Athens  from  1798  to  1809. 

9 


130  Yale  College 

He  was  a  man  of  ability,  and  became  possessed  of  large 
property. 

He  died  in  Athens  on  June  10,  1813,  in  his  58th  year. 

His  three  sons  and  two  daughters  are  represented  by 
many  descendants.  The  distinguished  geologist,  Profes- 
sor Raphael  Pumpelly,  is  a  grandson. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Kulp,    Families    of    the    Wyoming       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  353.    Welles 
Valley,  ii,  663.     Perkins,  Early  Times       Family,  305. 
on  the   Susquehanna,   148-49.     Pres. 


WILLIAM  WELLES,  son  of  William  Welles,  of  Glaston- 
bury,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Glastonbury  on  November 
22,  1754.  He  was  a  first  cousin  of  his  classmate,  George 
Welles. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town,  and  married  on  February 
5,  1784,  Lucy,  third  daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  and  Lucy 
(Kilbourn)  Welles,  of  Glastonbury,  who  died  on  April  8, 
1785,  at  the  age  of  19. 

Later  he  removed  to  Springfield,  Clark  County,  Ohio, 
where  he  was  twice  married,  and  had  by  his  first  wife 
three  daughters  and  a  son,  and  by  his  second  wife  one  son. 

He  probably  died  late  in  the  year  1812,  aged  58  years, 
as  his  will  (drawn  up  in  1810  at  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana) 
was  probated  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  on  December  14, 
1812. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,       217.    Loomis    Female    Genealogy,    i, 
108.    Chapin,  Glastenbury  Centennial,       132. 


WILLIAM  WHEELER,  the  fifth  son  and  ninth  child  of 
Josiah  Wheeler,  of  Abington  Parish,  in  Pomfret,  Con- 
necticut, was  born  in  Abington  on  August  2,  1754.  His 
mother  was  Anna  (Nanny),  daughter  of  Captain  Leices- 
ter and  Mary  Grosvenor,  of  Pomfret.  He  did  not  enter 
College  at  the  opening  of  the  course,  and  left  before  the 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  131 

close.  President  Stiles  visited  him  during  a  vacation  tour 
in  October,  1792,  and  as  a  consequence  had  his  name 
enrolled  as  a  graduate  at  tfce  next  Commencement. 

He  studied  medicine,  and  is  believed  to  have  seen  some 
service  .as  a  surgeon  in  the  Revolutionary  army. 

He  settled  at  first  in  Salisbury,  Connecticut,  and  married 
Diademia,  youngest  daughter  of  Philip  and  Abigail 
(Moore)  Spencer,  of  North-East,  in  Duchess  County, 
New  York,  and  formerly  of  Salisbury,  and  sister  of  the 
Hon.  Ambrose  Spencer  (Harvard  1783).  Her  only  child, 
a  daughter,  was  born  in  December,  1780,  and  she  died  in 
Salisbury  on  January  13,  1781,  in  her  22d  year. 

He  subsequently  married,  on  July  3,  1783,  Eliza,  eldest 
child  of  the  Rev.  Cotton  Mather  Smith  (Yale  1751),  of 
Sharon,  Connecticut.  About  1787  he  removed  to  Upper 
Redhook,  Duchess  County,  New  York,  where  his  wife 
died  on  January  7,  1788,  in  her  27th  year,  leaving  two 
daughters,  the  elder  of  whom  married  John  A.  Davenport 
(Yale  1802).  In  (April  ?)  1790  he  married  Wilhelmina 
Van  Vredenburgh,  by  whom  he  had  one  son. 

Dr.  Wheeler  died  in  Redhook  on  April  14,  1810,  in  his 
56th  year,  after  a  life  of  great  usefulness. 

His  epitaph  commends  him  as  having  meritoriously  dis- 
charged his  several  duties  with  skill,  fidelity,  tenderness, 
zeal,  and  patriotism.  His  widow  died  about  1815. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Goodwin,  Genealogical  Notes,  318,  53.  H.  R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethers- 
321.  Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  field,  ii,  633.  Van  Alstyne,  Sharon 
Diary,  iii,  476;  MS.  Itinerary,  vi,  34,  Record,  135-36. 


WILLIAM  WHITMAN,  the  youngest  child  and  only  son 
of  the  Rev.  Elnathan  Whitman  (Yale  1726),  pastor  of 
the  Second  Church  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  was  born 
there,  probably  in  1760. 

His  father  died  in  March  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

He  spent  his  life  in  Hartford,  at  first  studying  medi- 


132  Yale  College 

cine  and  doing  a  little  business  as  an  apothecary,  in  which 
vocation  he  acquired  the  title  of  Doctor.  In  1785  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  though  he  is  not  known  to  have  ever 
practiced  law.  Later  he  was  for  many  years  town  clerk 
and  clerk  of  the  city  court.  In  his  old  age  he  was  a  quaint, 
familiar  figure  in  Hartford,  addicted  to  an  odd  style  of 
dress,  and  a  typical  antiquary  in  habit  and  speech. 

He  died  in  Hartford  on  December  25,  1846,  aged  about 
86  years. 

He  married,  on  January  I,  1800,  Lucy,  second  daughter 
of  Timothy  and  Sarah  (Seymour)  Steele,  of  Hartford, 
and  widow  of  Ebenezer  Beach. 

She  died  on  May  5,  1801,  aged  32  years,  leaving  an  only 
child,  who  was  graduated  at  Middlebury  College  in  1820. 

He  next  married,  on  May  14,  1828,  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Charles  and  Elizabeth  (Humphrey)  Seymour,  of  Hart- 
ford, who  died  on  December  8,  1838,  aged  61  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Quarterly,  v,  483.  Ball,  501.  Parker,  Hist,  of  the  Second 
Romance  of  the  Association,  16,  22.  Church,  Hartford,  360.  Trumbull, 
Durrie,  Steele  Family,  22.  Farnam,  Memorial  Hist,  of  Hartford  County, 
Descendants  of  John  Whitman,  61,  i,  366. 


SAMUEL  WHITTELSEY,  the  third  son  and  sixth  child  of 
the  Rev.  Chauncey  Whittelsey  (Yale  1738),  of  New 
Haven,  by  his  second  wife,  Martha  Newton,  was  born  in 
New  Haven  on  February  10,  1763. 

He  studied  law  in  his  native  city,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  here  on  April  6,  1785. 

On  December  10,  1788,  he  married  in  New  York  City 
Sarah  Van  Deursen,  whose  elder  brother  had  married 
some  ten  years  before  Mr.  Whittelsey's  elder  sister.  Their 
children  were  two  daughters  and  five  sons :  two  sons  died 
early. 

He  afterwards  lived  in  New  Jersey,  and  in  Watertown, 
New  York,  near  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  where  Mrs. 
Whittelsey  died  in  April,  181 1,  in  her  48th  year.  [Another 
account  gives  her  death  in  April,  1814,  in  her  53d  year.] 


Biographical  Sketches,  1779  133 

Some  time  after  1819  Mr.  Whittelsey  removed  to  Car- 
lisle, Sullivan  County,  Indiana,  with  his  family,  where  he 
practiced  law.  He  ultimately  removed  a  few  miles  south- 
westward,  to  Vincennes,  in  Knox  County,  on  the  Wabash 
River,  where  he  died  on  March  7,  1838,  in  his  76th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  154.     Whittlesey  Genealogy,  56,  85-86. 


ELISHA  WHITTLESEY  (a  second  cousin  of  his  class- 
mate), the  eighth  son  and  tenth  child  of  Captain  Eliphalet 
Whittlesey,  and  grandson  of  Eliphalet  and  Mary  (Pratt) 
Whittlesey,  of  Newington,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  New- 
ington  on  January  8,  1758.  His  mother  was  Dorothy, 
eldest  child  of  Captain  Martin  and  Dorothy  (Chester) 
Kellogg,  of  Newington.  In  his  infancy  the  family 
removed  to  that  part  of  Kent  which  is  now  Washington, 
Connecticut. 

He  became  a  lawyer,  and  settled  in  Danbury,  Connecti- 
cut, where  he  held  a  prominent  position.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Convention  for  the  ratification  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  in  1788;  and  one  of  the  representa- 
tives of  Danbury  in  the  Legislature  in  thirteen  sessions 
between  1792  and  his  early  death. 

He  died  in  Danbury  on  November  9,  1802,  in  his  45th 
year,  leaving  an  estate  valued  at  nearly  $14,000.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  he  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, and  was  (as  he  had  repeatedly  been)  in  nomination 
for  the  Upper  House  of  Assistants. 

He  married  on  May  29,  1788,  Mary,  elder  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Hannah  (Bartow)  Tucker,  of  Danbury,  by 
whom  he  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

Of  the  two  sons  surviving  infancy,  the  elder  was  grad- 
uated at  Yale  in  1811,  and  the  younger  in  1817.  The 
elder  and  only  surviving  daughter  married  the  Rev. 
Robert  W.  Condit  (Princeton  1814). 

Mrs.  Whittlesey  died  on  August  31,  1852,  aged  80 
years. 


134  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Hist,  of  Danbury,  352.    Bar-       Literary   Diary,   iii,   546.     Whittlesey 
tow     Genealogy,     159-61.      Hopkins,       Genealogy,  50,  82. 
The    Kelloggs,    i,   98.      Pres.   Stiles, 


EZEKIEL  WOODRUFF  was  the  tenth  in  a  family  of  eleven 
children  of  Nathaniel  Woodruff,  of  Litchfield,  Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  Captain  Nathaniel  and  Thankful 
(Wright)  Woodruff.  He  was  born  on  July  29,  1763. 

His  mother  was  Mary,  second  daughter  of  Samuel  and 
Mary  (Garritt)  Kilbourn,  of  Litchfield. 

He  is  said  to  have  served  as  an  adjutant  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary army  during  the  later  part  of  the  war,  but  cer- 
tainly resigned  in  season  for  his  marriage,  in  Middletown, 
Connecticut,  on  June  30,  1782,  to  Sarah,  sixth  child  of 
Captain  Giles  and  Anna  (Lord)  Hall,  of  that  town.  She 
was  born  on  May  23,  1761. 

He  studied  law,  and  began  practice  in  Litchfield,  but 
within  a  few  years  removed  to  Middletown,  where  he  fol- 
lowed his  profession,  and  also  served  as  City  Clerk  from 
1786  to  his  resignation  in  1789. 

In  July,  1795,  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Newark, 
now  Niagara  on  the  Lake,  Ontario,  Canada,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Niagara  River.  He  died  at  Niagara  Falls  on 
January  7,  1837,  in  his  74th  year.  His  wife  died  on 
November  26,  1836,  aged  71/^2  years. 

He  left  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  Two  of  the  sons 
were  leading  merchants  and  prominent  in  public  affairs; 
both  were  members  of  the  Assembly  of  Upper  Canada. 
The  eldest  daughter  married  Samuel  De  Veaux,  who 
founded  De  Veaux  College  at  Niagara  Falls. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,  114.  Frank  F.  Starr,  MS.  Letter, 
105.  Field,  Centennial  Address  at  Oct.  10,  1906.  Woodruff,  Geneal. 
Middletown,  206.  Kilbourn  Family,  Register  of  Litchfield,  257. 


Annals,  1779-80  135 


Annals,    1779-80 


The  College  year  passed  without  striking  events. 

The  great  depreciation  of  the  currency  paralyzed  all 
trade,  and  interfered  so  seriously  with  the  ability  to  pro- 
vide food  for  Commons  that  the  Winter  vacation  began 
on  December  16  (instead  of  January  10),  and  the  suc- 
ceeding term  was  very  slimly  attended. 

During  the  Spring  vacation  the  memorable  "Dark  Day" 
occurred  (on  May  19). 

The.  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  which  was  for  many 
years  an  important  factor  in  College  life,  was  granted  a 
charter  from  the  mother  society  in  the  College  of  William 
and  Mary  on  December  9,*  through  Elisha  Parmele 
(Harvard  1778),  who  had  spent  the  first  two  years  of  his 
course  here,  and  was  now  traveling  in  Virginia.  After 
his  return  to  his  home,  in  Goshen,  Connecticut,  he  there 
initiated  into  the  Society,  in  April,  1780,  four  members 
of  Yale  College,  with  whom  its  actual  existence  began. 

Chauncey  Goodrich  (Yale  1776)  succeeded  William 
Robinson  (Yale  1773)  as  Tutor  at  the  opening  of  the 
College  year. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Salter  resigned  his  office  as  Trustee 
at  Commencement,  and  the  Rev.  Enoch  Huntington  (Yale 
1759)  was  elected  to  his  place.  By  this  change  the  Cor- 
poration for  the  first  time  since  its  organization  ceased  to 
have  in  its  membership  a  Harvard  graduate. 

At  Commencement  Professor  Daggett  presented  to  the 
Corporation  an  earnest  remonstrance  on  account  of  the 
inadequacy  of  his  salary  in  this  time  of  inflated  prices. 

*See  the  transcript  of  the  original  record  in  the  William  and  Mary  College 
Quarterly,  for  April,  1896,  iv,  234. 


136  Yale  College 


Sketches,   Class  of  1780 


* Johannes  Barnett,  A.M. 

*Samuel  Bostwick,  A.M.  *1799 

*Stephanus  Chester,  A.M.  *I&35 

*Thomas  Chester,  A.M.  et  Harv.  1784,  Tutor  "1831 
*Masonus  Fitch  Cogswell,  A.M.  1788,  M.D.  1818 

et    Soc.    Med.    Conn.    1810,    Soc.    Med.    Conn. 

Praeses  "j^o 

*Daniel  Cooke,  A.M.  *i?93 

*Worthington  Ely,  A.M.  "1803 

*Guilielmus  Fowler  *I782 

*Matthaeus  Griswold,  A.M.,  Socius  ex  officio  "1842 
*Rogerus  Griswold,  A.M.,  LL.D.   1812  et  Harv. 

1811,  e  Congr.,  Reip.  Conn.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  et 

Vice-Gubern.  et  Gubern.,  Soc.  ex  off.  *i8i2 

*Johannes  Lay,  A.M.  "1845 

*Oliverus  Lewis,  et  Harv.  1781,  A.M.  "1784 
*Thomas  Lord,  A.M. 

*y£neas  Monson,  A.M.  "1852 

* Jonathan  Ogden  Moseley,  A.M.,  e  Congr.  "1838 

*SamuelNott,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  1825  "1852 

*Timotheus  Phelps,  A.M.  *i8i2 

*Erastus  Pixley,  A.M.  *i?95 

*Daniel  Potter  *i842 

*  Johannes  Robinson,  A.M.  et  Harv.  1789 
*Samuel  Russell,  A.M. 

*Jabez  Huntington  Tomlinson  "1849 

*  Lemuel  Tyler,  A.M.  *i8io 
*Guilielmus  Josephus  Whiting,  A.M.  *I794 
*Guilielmus  Augustus  Williams,  A.M.  *i834 
*Josua  Williams,  A.M.  "1836 
*Guilielmus  Woodbridge,  A.M.  et  Harv.  1789  "1836 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  137 

JOHN  BARNETT,,  the  second  son  and  child  of  John 
Barnett,  of  that  part  of  Windsor  which  is  now  Bloomfield, 
Connecticut,  was  born  on  June  26,  and  baptized  on  July  I, 
1753.  His  father  removed  to  Nine  Partners,  in  Duchess 
County,  New  York,  in  1770. 

On  graduation  he  remained  in  New  Haven  as  a  student  of 
divinity,  probably  intending  to  read  under  the  direction  of 
Professor  Naphtali  Daggett;  but  his  death  occurred  one 
month  after  the  opening  of  the  College  year,  and  Mr. 
Barnett  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  delivering  a  Latin 
oration  at  the  funeral.  He  then  continued  his  studies 
with  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  minister  of  the  White 
Haven  Society,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New 
Haven  Association  on  September  25,  1781.  He  was  also 
appointed  College  Butler  in  January,  1781,  and  probably 
served  until  he  left  town. 

He  continued  in  New  Haven,  supplying  vacant  congre- 
gations in  the  vicinity,  until  the  spring  of  1782,  when  he 
accepted  a  chaplaincy  in  the  regiment  of  Colonel  Hopkins 
of  Amenia,  New  York,  at  Saratoga.  After  having  offici- 
ated in  this  regiment  and  in  the  regular  army  for  about 
eight  months,  his  lungs  became  seriously  affected  by  the 
effort  of  open-air  preaching,  and  he  was  obliged  to  resign 
and  to  discontinue  public  speaking  altogether. 

He  gradually  recovered,  and  at  Commencement  in  1783 
was  able  to  deliver  the  Valedictory  Oration  (in  Latin) 
for  the  Masters. 

In  February,  1784,  he  was  still  in  New  Haven,  and  took 
the  oath  as  a  freeman  of  the  newly  incorporated  city. 

Soon  after  this  he  returned  to  the  vicinity  of  his  father's 
house,  and  he  there  married,  about  1785,  Tryphena,  the 
second  daughter  of  Philip  Spencer,  of  North  East,  Duchess 
County,  and  widow  of  Medad  Parker,  of  Salisbury,  Con- 
necticut. One  of  her  sisters  had  married  Dr.  William 
Wheeler,  of  the  preceding  class.  Their  eldest  child  was 
born  in  North  East  in  February,  1787. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1790  he  had  occasion  to 


UNIVERSITY 


138  Yale  College 

visit  Addison  County,  Vermont,  and  after  preaching  for 
a  couple  of  months  to  the  settlers  in  Middlebury,  received 
a  call  to  the  ministry  there  on  June  15,  with  an  annual 
salary  of  £50.  On  his  acceptance  being  assured,  a  Con- 
gregational church  of  twelve  members  was  organized 
on  September  5 ;  and  he  was  ordained  as  pastor  on 
November  n,  the  sermon  being  preached  by  the  Rev. 
Chauncey  Lee  (Yale  1784).  At  that  time  there  was  no 
settled  minister  of  any  denomination  north  of  him  in  the 
State,  to  the  west  of  the  Green  Mountain  range. 

He  is  said  by  his  successor  in  the  pulpit  to  have  been 
sound  in  the  faith,  and  an  able  sermonizer,  but  not  dis- 
tinguished for  much  versatility  of  genius  or  character. 

After  two  or  three  years  a  violent  controversy  arose  in 
the  town  about  the  location  of  the  meeting-house,  one 
result  of  which  was  the  alienation  of  a  part  of  the  society 
from  their  minister,  which  led  to  his  dismission  on  March 
31,  1795.  He  continued  to  reside  in  Middlebury  for  nearly 
two  years  longer,  during  which  time  he  preached  to  his 
former  flock  as  a  stated  supply. 

For  several  years  longer  he  preached  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  State,  and  from  1802  to  1813  preached  as 
stated  supply  (with  a  yearly  stipend  of  £60)  to  the 
"Oblong  Society"  in  Amenia,  Duchess  County,  New  York, 
part  of  its  membership  being  in  the  adjoining  town  of 
Sharon,  Connecticut.  His  wife  died  in  Amenia  on  March 
9,  1812,  in  her  57th  year. 

During  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  again  so 
troubled  with  an  affection  of  his  lungs  that  he  seldom 
preached,  and  for  many  years  before  his  death  he  never 
officiated  as  a  minister. 

He  resided  for  a  considerable  period  at  the  house  of  his 
younger  son,  in  Durham,  Greene  County,  New  York, 
where  he  died  on  December  5,  1837,  in  his  85th  year. 

His  children  were  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 

He  published: 

i.  An  Oration,  delivered  at  Amenia,  in  Union  Society,  July  4, 
1812  .  .  Poughkeepsie,  1812.  8°,  pp.  24.  [Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  139 

2.  Funeral  Sermon  on  Ambrose  Spencer,  Junior,  who  died  of 
wounds  received  in  the  battle  of  Lundy's  Lane,  1814. 

The  subject  was  a  son  of  the  Hon.  Ambrose  Spencer  (a  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York)",  and  a  nephew  of  Mrs.  Barnett. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Goodwin,  Genealogical  Notes,  320-  County,   116.    Pros.  E.  Stiles,  Liter- 

21.    Hemenway,  Vt.  Quarterly  Gazet-  ary  Diary,  ii,  483,  501 ;    iii,  79,   109. 

teer,    i,    56.      Johnston,   Yale    in   the  H.  R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed., 

Revolution,    344.     Merrill,    Semicen-  ii,   60.     Swift,   Hist,   of    Middlebury, 

tennial  Sermon  at  Middlebury,  17-19,  405-06. 
68-69.    P.  H.  Smith,  Hist,  of  Duchess 


SAMUEL  BOSTWICK,  Junior,  the  youngest  son  of  Samuel 
Bostwick,  of  New  Milford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  that 
town  on  January  19,  1755.  His  mother  was  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Ebenezer  and  Mehitabel  Fisk,  of  Milford  and 
New  Milford.  A  brother  was  graduated  in  1774.  At  the 
Presentation  of  his  class  for  degrees,  in  July,  1780,  he 
delivered  a  poem,  on  The  Genius  of  America,  the  manu- 
script of  which  is  preserved  among  President  Stiles's 
papers  in  the  Yale  Library. 

Upon  graduation  he  studied  law  with  Daniel  Everett, 
of  New  Milford,  and  settled  in  practice  in  his  native  town. 
He  was  a  representative  in  the  General  Assembly  in  May, 
1796. 

He  died  in  New  Milford,  of  the  small  pox,  on  April  3, 
1799,  in  his  45th  year. 

He  married  on  June  27,  1784,  Polly  Trail,  who  died 
soon,  leaving  one  daughter. 

He  next  married,  on  May  14,  1786,  Polypheme,  fourth 
daughter  of  Captain  Lazarus  and  Hannah  (Bostwick) 
Ruggles,  of  New  Milford,  who  was  born  on  December  4, 
1763. 

By  this  marriage  he  had  three  daughters,  of  whom  one 
died  in  infancy. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Loomis  and  Calhoun,  Judicial  and  821,  845.  Pierce,  Fiske  and  Fisk 
Civil  Hist,  of  Conn.,  239.  Orcutt,  Family,  101.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
Hist,  of  New  Milford,  661,  664,  757,  Diary,  ii,  452. 


140  Yale  College 

STEPHEN  CHESTER,  the  eleventh  child  of  Colonel  John 
Chester  (Harvard  1722),  of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut, 
was  born  on  October  28,  1761.  Two  of  his  elder  brothers 
were  graduated  here,  in  1766  and  1769  respectively;  and 
his  youngest  brother  was  his  classmate. 

His  life  was  spent  in  Wethersfield,  where  he  married 
on  November  5,  1788,  Elizabeth  (or  Betsy),  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  the  Hon.  Stephen  Mix  Mitchell  (Yale  1763). 

He  was  for  many  years  Sheriff  of  Hartford  County, 
and  maintained  the  family  reputation  as  a  gentleman  of 
elegant  bearing. 

He  died  in  Wethersfield  on  December  6,  1835,  in  his 
75th  year. 

His  widow  died  on  December  22,  1852,  aged  82  years. 
They  had  six  daughters  and  six  sons;  the  two  elder  sons 
were  graduates  of  Yale,  in  1813  and  1814  respectively, 
and  one  daughter  married  Dr.  Lemuel  W.  Belden  (Yale 
1821).  '_ 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,       N.    E.    Hist,    and    Geneal.    Register, 
22.    Bond,  Hist,  of  Watertown,  739.       xxii,  342.     Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethers- 
Goodwin,     Genealogical     Notes,     18.       field,  ii,  215,  217. 
Hinman,  Conn.  Puritan  Settlers,  565. 


THOMAS  CHESTER,  the  twelfth  and  youngest  child  of 
the  Hon.  John  Chester,  of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  and 
brother  of  the  last-named  graduate,  was  born  in  Wethers- 
field on  January  7,  1764. 

He  was  elected  to  a  tutorship  in  College  on  March  12, 
1783,  and  entered  on  his  duties  on  March  24,  being  then 
only  a  little  over  19.  He  resigned  the  office  at  the  ensuing 
Commencement,  and  returned  to  Wethersfield,  where  he 
entered  on  the  practice  of  law.  In  1794  he  was  appointed 
Postmaster. 

Soon  after  this  he  removed  to  Hartford,  and  relinquish- 
ing most  flattering  prospects  of  distinction  at  the  bar, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  141 

accepted  the  appointments  of  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  (in  1796)  and  of  the  Superior  Court  (in  1806), 
which  offices  he  filled  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  bench 
and  of  the  bar  through  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  was  also 
Town  Clerk,  and  for  a  short  time  Clerk  of  the  Probate 
Court. 

He  died  in  Hartford  on  October  2,  1831,  in  his  68th 
year. 

He  married  in  Wethersfield,  on  March  26,  1795,  Esther 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Colonel  Joseph  Bull  of  Hartford, 
who  died  on  June  22,  1844,  in  her  67th  year. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  one  son.  The 
son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1818,  and  the  third  daughter 
married  Professor  Sylvester  Hovey  (Yale  1819). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,  xxii,  342. 

26.    Bond,  Hist,  of  Watertown,  740.  Pros.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii, 

Goodwin,    Genealogical     Notes,     18.  62-63,   97.      H.   R,   Stiles,   Hist,    of 

Hinman,  Conn.  Puritan  Settlers,  397,  Wethersfield,  ii,  215,  217.     Trumbull, 

565.     Loomis  and  Calhoun,  Judicial  Memorial  Hist,  of  Hartford  County, 

and  Civil  Hist,  of  Conn.,  537.     N.  E.  i,  125. 


MASON  FITCH  COGSWELL,  the  third  son  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
James  Cogswell  (Yale  1742),  and  brother  of  Samuel 
Cogswell  (Yale  1777),  was  born  in  Canterbury,  Con- 
necticut, on  September  28,  and  was  baptized  by  his  father 
on  October  4,  1761.  His  mother  died  in  his  nth  year, 
just  after  her  husband  had  removed  to  Scotland  Parish,  in 
Windham,  Connecticut,  where  he  married  in  1773  the 
widow  of  his  predecessor  in  office,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Devotion  (Yale  1732).  The  rest  of  the  boyhood  of  this 
son  was  mainly  spent  in  the  family  of  one  of  his  step- 
mother's children,  who  was  the  wife  of  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Huntington,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut. 

With  a  natural  gift  for  surgery  he  chose  the  profession 
of  medicine,  and  pursued  his  studies  under  the  direction 
of  his  eldest  brother,  Dr.  James  Cogswell,  who  was  sta- 


142  Yale  College 

tioned  in  Stamford,  Connecticut,  as  Examining  Surgeon 
of  Volunteers. 

Subsequently  Dr.  Cogswell  settled  in  New  York  City, 
and  thither  his  brother  Mason  followed  him,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1784,  and  after  further  training  in  surgery  in 
the  Soldiers'  Hospital,  he  seems  to  have  been  taken  into 
business  with  his  brother  in  the  summer  of  1787. 

In  the  summer  of  1789  he  established  himself  perma- 
nently in  the  city  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  where  the  rest 
of  his  life  was  spent.  As  a  physician  he  was  extensively 
employed  and  much  esteemed,  and  as  a  surgeon  he  was 
among  the  foremost  in  his  generation.  He  was  especially 
distinguished  for  the  boldness  and  sound  judgment  of  his 
diagnosis,  and  for  his  accuracy,  neatness,  and  despatch 
as  an  operator.  He  was  also  the  soul  of  courtesy  and 
cheerfulness,  a  charming  social  companion,  and  on  terms 
of  intimacy  with  the  coterie  of  so-called  "Hartford  Wits." 

His  benevolence  and  public  spirit  were  widely  known, 
and  were  perhaps  most  conspicuously  recognized  in  the 
part  which  he  took  in  founding  the  Asylum  for  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb  in  Hartford, — his  interest  in  this  direction 
having  been  first  aroused  by  the  affliction  which  befel  one 
of  his  daughters  in  infancy. 

Many  young  men  pursued  professional  study  with  him, 
and  when  the  Medical  Institution  of  Yale  College  was 
established  in  1810  he  was  invited  to  fill  the  chair  of  Sur- 
gery. After  he  had  reluctantly  consented,  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  Dr.  Nathan  Smith,  of  Dartmouth  College, 
was  available,  and  Dr.  Cogswell  withdrew. 

He  served  as  President  of  the  State  Medical  Society 
from  1812  to  1822. 

He  died  in  Hartford,  after  an  illness  of  only  five  days, 
from  pneumonia,  on  December  10,  1830,  in  his  7<Dth 
year. 

He  married,  on  April  13,  1800,  Mary  Austin,  only 
daughter  of  Colonel  Austin  and  Sarah  (Sheldon)  Led- 
yard,  of  Hartford,  who  died  at  the  house  of  her  son-in- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  143 

law,  in  Farmington,  Connecticut,  on  August  14,  1849,  m 
her  74th  year. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  a  son.  The 
eldest  daughter  married  Lewis  Weld  (Yale  1818),  and  the 
youngest  married  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cortlandt  Van  Rensselaer 
(Yale  1827) .  The  third  daughter,  Alice,  specially  attached 
to  her  father  by  her  calamity  of  deafness  and  his  tender- 
ness, died  of  grief  thirteen  days  after  him.  The  son  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1829. 

A  portion  of  a  diary  kept  by  Dr.  Cogswell  in  1788  was 
printed  with  annotations  in  the  New  Englander  for  Janu- 
ary, 1882. 

A  portrait  is  preserved  in  the  family,  from  which  an 
engraving  is  given  in  the  Memorial  History  of  Hartford 
County. 

The  honorary  degree  of  M.D.  was  conferred  on  him  by 
the  Connecticut  Medical  Society  in  1810,  and  again  by 
this  College  in  1818. 

A  part  of  his  manuscript  correspondence  is  preserved  in 
the  Yale  Library. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Jameson,    Cogswells    in    America,  Second   Church,  Hartford,  360.      G. 

117,  244-46.     /.  Knight,  Introductory  Sumner  and  G.  W.  Russell,  Sketches 

Lecture,     Yale    Medical     Institution,  and  Reminiscences  of   Physicians  in 

1838,    13-19.       New    Englander,    xli,  Hartford,    12-19,    3&-31-      Trumbull, 

1-31.      N.    Y.    Geneal.    and    Biogr.  Memorial  Hist,  of  Hartford  County, 

Record,  vii,  12.     Parker,  Hist,  of  the  i,  141,  425,  599-600,  603. 


DANIEL  COOKED  the  tenth  of  twelve  children  of  Nicholas 
Cooke,  the  distinguished  Revolutionary  Governor  of 
Rhode  Island,  and  grandson  of  Daniel  and  Mary  (Power) 
Cooke,  was  born  in  Providence  on  March  26,  1760.  His 
mother  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  Hezekiah  and  Zerviah 
(Hosmer)  Sabin,  of  Killingly,  Connecticut.  He  entered 
Brown  University  in  1774,  but  his  course  was  interrupted 
towards  the  end  of  his  Sophomore  year  by  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war,  and  on  July  3,  1778,  he  was  admitted  to 


144  Yale  College 

the  Sophomore  class  in  Yale.  While  in  College  he  lived  at 
the  house  of  an  uncle,  Hezekiah  Sabin,  who  had  removed 
to  New  Haven  from  Killingly  about  1743. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town,  and  read  law,  but  from 
modesty  never  engaged  in  practice.  He  was  for  some 
years  town  clerk,  and  held  that  office  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

He  married  in  Providence,  on  May  28,  1783,  Sarah 
Whitehorn,  by  whom  he  had  five  daughters. 

He  died  in  Providence  on  November  13,  1793,  in  his 
34th  year.  His  wife  survived  him. 


AUTHORITIES. 

R.  I.  Vital  Record,  ii,  218.     Pres.      U.  S.  Chronicle,  Nov.  21,  1793. 
Stiles,    Literary    Diary,    ii,    278,   428. 


WORTH INGTON  ELY,  the  eldest  child  of  Dr.  John  Ely, 
of  Westbrook,  then  part  of  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Major  Daniel  and  Ruhama  (Turner)  Ely,  of 
Lyme,  was  born  in  Saybrook  in  1760.  His  mother  was 
Sarah,  fourth  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William  Worthing- 
ton  (Yale  1716),  of  Westbrook,  by  his  second  wife,  Tem- 
perance Gallup.  One  of  his  sisters  married  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Goodrich  (Yale  1783).  During  his  Sophomore 
year  his  father,  who  held  the  rank  of  Colonel  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary army,  was  captured  by  the  British ;  and  this  son 
spent  some  time  in  an  unsuccessful  endeavor  to  secure  his 
ransom. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine,  and  for  several 
years  practiced  in  his  native  town.  About  1788  he  mar- 
ried Prudence  Bushnell,  of  Saybrook,  and  as  his  family 
increased  he  thought  it  wise  to  remove  to  a  new  location, 
and  settled  in  the  village  of  Coeymans,  about  twenty-five 
miles  south  of  Albany,  New  York. 

He  was  a  skilful  physician  and  surgeon,  and  expended 
his  strength  without  stint  in  the  labors  of  his  profession, 
but  died  early,  a  victim  of  overwork. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  145 

He  died,  probably  in  the  year  1803,  at  the  age  of  43. 
His  wife  survived  him  with  four  or  five  daughters,  all 
of  whom  lived  to  marry. 


AUTHORITIES. 

[Stuart],  Hist,  of  the  Ely  Reunion,       try,  79,  136-39. 
61,  100-06.     Vanderpoel,  Ely  Ances- 


WILLIAM  FOWLER,  the  seventh  child  and  youngest  son 
of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Fowler  (Yale  1743),  of  East  Haddam, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  that  town  on  September  27,  1761. 

In  February  after  his  graduation  he  received  the 
appointment  of  Ensign  in  the  Fifth  Connecticut  Regiment, 
under  Colonel  Isaac  Sherman  (Yale  1770).  His  regiment 
spent  the  next  winter  in  the  camp  known  as  "Connecticut 
Village,"  on  the  Hudson  above  Peekskill,  and  he  died 
there,  of  small  pox,  in  the  latter  part  of  February,  1782, 
in  his  2  ist  year.  His  death  is  noticed  in  the  Connecticut 
Journal  (of  New  Haven)  of  February  28,  which  speaks 
of  him  as  "much  esteemed  by  all  his  acquaintance." 


AUTHORITIES. 
Fowler    Geneal.    Memoir,   20.     Johnston,   Yale   in   the   Revolution,   345. 


MATTHEW  GRISWOLD,  the  second  son  and  child  of 
Governor  Matthew  Griswold,  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  John  and  Hannah  (Lee)  Griswold,  of  Lyme, 
was  born  in  Lyme  on  April  17,  1760.  A  younger  brother 
was  a  classmate.  A  brief  letter  of  advice,  addressed  to 
him  by  his  father  in  the  first  term  of  his  Senior  year  in 
College,  is  printed  in  the  Magazine  of  American  History 
for  March,  1884. 

He  studied  law  under  the  direction  of  his  father,  and 
settled  in  North  Lyme,  where  the  whole  of  his  long  life 
was  spent.  He  served  as  Representative  in  the  General 
Assembly  in  fourteen  sessions  between  1794  and  1804, 
and  was  then  a  member  of  the  Upper  House  of  Assistants 

IO 


146  Yale  College 

and  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  County  Court  for  thirteen 
years  (1805-1818),  or  until  the  change  in  the  State 
Constitution.  By  virtue  of  his  office,  as  one  of  the  Senior 
Senators,  he  served  as  a  Fellow  of  Yale  College  from 
1809  to  1818;  and  in  1823  he  presented  to  the  Yale 
Library  a  very  valuable  series  of  Connecticut  Election 
Sermons,  which  had  been  collected  and  handed  down  in 
the  family. 

For  a  considerable  period  he  received,  in  conjunction 
with  his  brother  Roger,  a  succession  of  pupils  for  instruc- 
tion in  the  law,  some  of  whom,  as  Judge  James  Gould 
(Yale  1791),  William  Hunger  ford  (Yale  1809),  and 
Chief  Justice  Henry  M.  Waite  (Yale  1809),  became 
eminent  in  after  life. 

He  died  in  Lyme  on  June  10,  1842,  in  his  83d  year. 

He  married  in  Lyme,  on  September  4,  1788,  his  third 
cousin,  Lydia,  eldest  daughter  of  Deacon  Seth  and  Lydia 
(Reynolds)  Ely,  of  Lyme,  who  died  in  1853,  aged  87 
years.  They  had  no  children. 

The  family  historian,  fifty  years  after  his  death,  says 
of  him: 

He  met  all  his  duties  with  dignity  and  ability,  and  passed  a 
serene  life,  apparently  undisturbed  by  ambition.  He  and  his  wife 
had  the  kindest  of  natures,  and  their  hospitable  house  was  the 
resort  of  relatives  from  far  and  near,  many  of  whom  still  remember, 
his  stately  form,  the  beauty  of  his  regular  features,  their  calm  and 
sweet  expression  and  the  cordial  courtesy  of  his  manners. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Magazine  of  American  History,  xi,       Ely  Ancestry,    104,   107,   193.       Wal- 
238.     Salisbury,  Family  Histories  and       worth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i,  183. 
Genealogies,    ii,   80-81.      Vanderpoel, 


ROGER  GRISWOLD,  the  younger  brother  of  the  fore- 
going graduate,  was  born  in  Lyme  on  May  21,  1762. 

He  studied  law  with  his  father,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  November,  1783,  when  he  settled  in  practice  in 


Biographical  Sketches,  ij8o  147 

Norwich,  Connecticut,  where  he  married  in  the  latter  part 
of  October,  1788,  Fanny,  daughter  of  Colonel  Zabdiel  and 
Elizabeth  (Tracy)  Rogers. 

He  soon  attained  distinction  as  an  advocate,  and  in 
1794  entered  political  life  as  a  Representative  in  the  State 
Legislature.  While  serving  in  this  position  he  was  chosen, 
in  September,  1794,  as  a  Representative  in  Congress,  and 
this  place  he  filled  with  high  honor  to  himself  until  he 
declined  another  re-election  in  September,  1804.  He  had 
already  declined  the  position  of  Secretary  of  War,  which 
was  tendered  him  by  President  Adams  in  February,  1801. 

He  had  removed  his  residence  in  1798  to  Lyme,  and  on 
his  retirement  from  Congress  he  returned  to  a  lucrative 
professional  practice. 

In  May,  1807,  he  sacrificed  these  emoluments  in  order 
to  accept  an  appointment  by  the  Legislature  to  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  and  Superior  Courts  of  the  State,  which 
he  held  with  distinguished  credit  until  his  election  to  the 
rank  of  Lieutenant  Governor  in  October,  1809,  after  the 
death  of  Governor  Trumbull.  In  1810  there  was  no  election 
by  the  people,  owing  to  a  division  among  the  Federal- 
ists,— the  younger  element  preferring  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor Griswold,  now  48  years  of  age,  while  the  more 
conservative  elders  preferred  Governor  Treadwell  (Yale 
1767).  The  two  candidates  were  continued  in  their 
respective  offices  by  the  Legislature  until  May,  1811,  when 
Griswold  was  elevated  by  the  Freemen  of  the  State  to 
the  post  of  Governor.  He  was  re-elected  a  year  later,  and 
died  in  office. 

He  had  enjoyed  the  best  of  health  until  January,  1807, 
when  he  was  suddenly  prostrated  by  a  disease  affecting 
the  heart,  from  which  he  suffered  acutely  for  the  rest  of 
his  life.  In  October,  1812,  he  re-visited  Norwich  in  the 
hope  of  deriving  benefit  from  the  familiar  climate,  but 
died  there  on  the  25th  of  that  month,  in  his  5ist  year,  and 
was  buried  in  Lyme  on  the  27th. 

An  Eulogium,  by  the  Hon.  David  Daggett  (Yale  1783), 


148  Yale  College 

a  member  of  the  Governor's  Council,  delivered  before  the 
General  Assembly  four  days  later,  was  subsequently 
printed. 

His  widow  survived  until  December  26,  1863,  when  she 
died  in  Lyme,  at  the  age  of  96. 

Their  children  were  seven  sons  and  three  daughters,  all 
of  whom  left  descendants,  except  the  youngest  son  (who 
died  in  infancy).  The  second  and  fourth  sons  were  grad- 
uates of  Yale,  in  1808  and  1818  respectively. 

In  his  public  career  Governor  Griswold  was  distin- 
guished for  profound  loyalty  to  principle  and  incorruptible 
integrity. 

He  was  an  extreme  Federalist  in  his  views,  and  a  leader 
in  the  intrigues  in  1803-04  for  the  formation  of  a  North- 
ern Confederacy. 

His  Congressional  career  was  disfigured  by  a  notori- 
ous personal  encounter  on  the  floor  of  the  House  (in  1798) 
with  Matthew  Lyon,  of  Vermont. 

In  the  last  summer  of  his  life  he  came  into  prominent 
notice  from  his  attitude  of  opposition  to  the  War  against 
Great  Britain.  In  June,  1812,  President  Madison  called 
for  detachments  of  the  State  militia  to  perform  garrison 
duty  under  United  States  officers;  and  Governor  Gris- 
wold, with  the  advice  of  his  Council,  refused  to  obey  the 
call  as  unconstitutional. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was 'given 
him  by  Harvard  College  in  1811  and  by  Yale  in  1812. 

Of  his  public  papers  may  be  mentioned : — 

1.  Speech,  on  the  Bill   for  the  Repeal  of  the   Internal  Taxes; 
delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  on 
Thursday,  the  i8th  of  March.    Philadelphia,  1802.    8°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 

2.  Message,  to  the  General  Assembly,  at  their  Special  Session, 
August  25,  1812  .  .     New-Haven,  1812.    8°,  pp.  22. 

[B.  Ath.      Brit.  Mus.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

Further  extracts  from  his  speeches,  messages,  and  let- 
ters are  given  in  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Salisbury's  Family  His- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  149 

tories,  and  in  the  History  of  the  Hartford  Convention. 
An  interesting  letter  relative  to  the  intrigue  of  1803-04  is 
printed  in  the  Documents  Delating  to  New  England 
Federalism. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Adams,   Life    of    Gallatin,    191-95,  McLaughlin,  Matthew  Lyon,  225-300. 

249-50,   258;    Documents   relating  to  Magazine  of  Amer.  History,  xi,  310- 

N.  E.  Federalism,  106,  354-58.     Caul-  29.      Perkins,    Old   Houses   of    Nor- 

kins,  Hist,  of  Norwich,  2d  ed.,  518-19.  wich,  i,  361.     Salisbury,  Family  His- 

Conn.  Evangelical  Magazine,  2d  ser-  tories,  ii,  8i-m.     Schouler,  Hist,  of 

ies,  v,  439-40.     Cutler,  Life  of  Man-  U.  S.,  i,  371-72;    ii,  299.     Wai-worth, 

asseh  Cutler,  ii,  83.     Dwight,  Hist,  of  Hyde  Family,  i,  183 ;  ii,  887-90.    Wol- 

the     Hartford     Convention,     238-67.  cott  Memorial,  78-79. 
Hildrcth,  Hist,   of   U.   S.,  v,   187-91. 


JOHN  LAY,  the  sixth  child  and  youngest  son  of  Jona- 
than Lay,  of  the  village  of  Westbrook,  in  Saybrook,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Robert  and  Mary  (Grinnel) 
Lay,  of  Westbrook,  was  born  on  August  28,  1760.  His 
mother  was  Mary  Spencer,  of  Westbrook.  His  father 
died  during  his  Junior  year. 

He  is  said  to  have  marched  to  the  field  as  a  soldier 
towards  the  close  of  the  Revolution;  and  later  (in  1784) 
married  Phebe,  only  daughter  of  Lieutenant  Elisha  Lee, 
of  East  Lyme,  Connecticut. 

For  a  few  years  he  continued  to  live  on  the  farm  left 
him  by  his  father  in  his  native  parish,  whence  he  removed 
to  Catskill,  New  York,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  (at  least  from  1793  to  1795). 

From  Catskill  he  went  to  Clinton,  in  Oneida  County, 
where  he  settled  upon  a  farm.  His  standing  in  the  county 
was  such  that  he  was  elected  by  the  Federalists  as  a 
representative  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  three 
times,  in  the  sessions  of  1803,  1812-13,  and  1814-15. 

His  wife  died  on  February  2,  1835,  in  her  73d  year; 
and  he  afterwards  went  to  live  with  a  son  in  Buffalo,  New 
York,  where  he  died  on  February  5,  1845,  m  m's 
year. 


150  Yale  College 

He  had  ten  children.  One  daughter  married  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Henry  Axtell  (Princeton  1796),  and  another  married 
the  Hon.  Phineas  L.  Tracy  (Yale  1806) ;  while  a  son 
was  graduated  at  Hamilton  College  (in  Clinton)  in  1817, 
and  received  an  honorary  M.A.  degree  in  1835  at  Yale, 
where  two  of  his  sons  were  graduated  in  1841. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Salisbury,  Family  Histories  and  Genealogies,  i,  338-39;    iii,  43. 


OLIVER  LEWIS,  the  eldest  child  of  Job  Lewis,  a  shoe- 
maker and  tanner  of  the  parish  (now  town)  of  Southing- 
ton,  in  Farmington,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Nathan 
and  Mary  (Gridley)  Lewis,  of  Southington,  was  born 
in  that  parish  on  April  24,  1757.  His  mother  was  Han- 
nah, second  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Curtiss  (Yale 
1724),  of  Southington,  and  his  next  older  brother  was 
graduated  here  in  1783.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by 
the  Rev.  Benjamin  Chapman  (Princeton  Coll.  1754),  of 
Southington,  and  excelled  as  a  classical  scholar. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  early  in  1783.  On  account  of  greatly  impaired 
health  he  then  went  as  far  south  as  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  but  returned  in  August. 

A  few  months  later  he  went  south  again,  with  the 
intention  of  settling  in  that  section  as  a  lawyer ;  but  died 
in  Savannah,  Georgia,  from  yellow  fever,  on  October  12, 
1784,  in  his  28th  year. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  engaged  to  be  married 
to  Sarah,  second  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  and 
Abigail  (Riggs)  Chapman,  of  Southington,  who  remained 
single  until  her  death,  on  January  10,  1804,  in  her  45th 
year. 

He  published: 

An  Oration;  delivered  in  Christ's  Church,  Middletown,  Tuesday 
September  3Oth,  A.  D.  1783.  Before  a  General  Convention  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  151 

several  Lodges,  of  the  most  ancient  and  honourable  Society  of  Free 
and  Accepted  Masons,  in  the  State  of  Connecticut.  Hartford, 
sq.  8°,  pp.  16.  [B.  Ath.  Y.  C. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Journal,  Dec.  8, 1784.    Loomis       153.     Timlow,  Hist,  of  Southington, 
Female     Genealogy,     i,     228.      Pres.       515-16,  xliv,  clviii. 
Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  423 ;    iii,  89, 


THOMAS  LORD  came  to  College  from  Lyme,  Connecticut. 

He  studied  theology  at  the  College  after  graduation, 
and  in  1782  taught  in  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  in 
New  Haven. 

He  joined  in  the  western  emigration  promoted  by  the 
Ohio  Company,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of 
Marietta,  Ohio,  in  1788.  In  September,  1788,  he  was 
commissioned,  at  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  first  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  in  the  North-West  Territory,  as  one  of 
the  assistant  Justices  of  the  quorum.  'He  also  served  as 
one  of  the  Associate  Judges  of  the  same  Court  in  Wash- 
ington County  between  1810  and  1817,  but  his  subsequent 
history  is  not  known. 

He  married  Nelly,  daughter  of  Colonel  Robert  Oliver, 
of  Marietta. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Hildreth,  Pioneer  Hist,  of  the  Ohio       ington  County,  O.,  92,  112. 
Valley,  233,  315.     History  of  Wash- 


MUNSON  (later,  MONSON),  the  eldest  son  of 
Dr.  Eneas  Munson  (Yale  1753),  was  born  in  New  Haven 
on  September  n,  1763. 

On  September  i,  1780,  twelve  days  before  his  degree 
was  granted,  he  received  the  appointment  of  Surgeon's 
Mate  in  Colonel  Heman  Swift's  Seventh  Connecticut 
Colonial  Line,  having  probably  pursued  medical  studies 
with  his  father  in  his  Senior  year. 

During  the  following  winter  he  was  stationed  opposite 
West  Point,  on  the  Hudson,  and  in  June,  1781,  was  sent 


i52  Yale  College 

to  assist  the  Surgeon  of  Colonel  Alexander  Scammell's 
Light  Infantry  corps,  which  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
siege  of  Yorktown. 

His  later  service  was  with  the  Fourth  Connecticut 
Regiment  (Colonel  Zebulon  Butler's)  in  the  Highlands, 
until  they  were  disbanded  in  June,  1783. 

He  then  returned  to  New  Haven,  and  besides  general 
medical  practice  took  charge  for  some  years  of  a  hospital 
for  the  inoculation  and  care  of  small-pox. 

He  was  married  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Dana,  in  New 
Haven,  on  May  3,  1794,  to  Mary  (Polly),  eldest  child  of 
Levi  and  Mary  (Pomeroy)  Shephard,  of  Northampton, 
Massachusetts. 

Dr.  Monson  did  not  enjoy  his  profession,  and  as  he 
accumulated  property  he  turned  his  attention  gradually 
to  more  lucrative  pursuits.  Besides  loaning  money  and 
buying  and  selling  real  estate,  he  also  engaged  in  trade, 
both  foreign  and  domestic.  In  1799-1802  he  was  a  part- 
ner in  the  firm  of  Monson,  Mulford  &  Co.,  merchants  in 
the  West  India  and  coasting  trade;  and  in  1806,  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Monson  &  Shelton,  he  opened  a 
store  for  the  sale  of  dry  goods  and  groceries,  in  which  he 
continued  to  be  interested  for  a  number  of  years. 

The  reputation  which  he  had  gained  for  sagacity  in  the 
management  of  his  affairs  led  to  his  election  as  President 
of  the  New  Haven  Bank  in  1812.  For  nineteen  years, 
during  a  period  of  great  financial  troubles,  he  managed 
this  institution  with  uprightness,  judgment,  and  skill.  He 
was  also  President  of  the  Mechanics  Bank  from  1832  to 
1835,  and  of  the  City  Bank  for  one  year,  1837-38. 

Though  never  an  applicant  for  public  favor,  he  accepted 
office  as  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  in  1804,  and 
as  alderman  in  1805,  1819,  and  1828. 

Dr.  Henry  Bronson,  who  knew  him  well,  wrote  of  him : 

For  financial  ability,  sound  discretion  and  shrewd  practical  sense, 
no  man  in  New  Haven  had  a  better  reputation.  . .  He  held  decided 
opinions,  but  was  not  considered  obstinate,  and  had  none  of  the 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  153 

family  eccentricities.  Though  he  loved  anecdote  and  enjoyed  a 
good  story,  he  lacked  the  sharp  wit  of  his  father.  He  was  a  well- 
dressed  man,  a  gentleman  in  his  manners,  and  an  excellent  card- 
player. 

A  portrait  is  in  possession  of  the  family. 

He  died,  of  dysentery,  in  New  Haven,  on  August  22, 
1852,  aged  nearly  89  years,  having  been  for  almost  three 
months  the  oldest  graduate  of  the  College. 

His  wife  died,  of  old  age,  on  February  6,  1848,  in  her 
76th  year.  Their  children  were  six  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter. The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1815,  and 
the  daughter  married  George  Y.  Cutler  (Yale  1816). 

He,  like  his  father,  published  an  account  of  the  yellow 
fever  which  visited  New  Haven  in  1794. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  i,  Munson  Record,  ii,  769,  788-94. 
21.  Dwight  Genealogy,  ii,  881.  John-  N.  H.  Colony  Historical  Society's 
ston,  Yale  in  the  Revolution,  345-46.  Papers,  ii,  274-77. 


JONATHAN  OGDEN  MOSELEY,  the  only  child  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Moseley  (Yale  1751),  of  East  Haddam,  Con- 
necticut, by  his  first  wife,  Phebe,  daughter  of  Governor 
Jonathan  Ogden,  of  Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey,  was  born 
on  April  9,  1762. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town  as  a  lawyer,  and  served 
as  a  representative  in  the  General  Assembly  in  fifteen 
sessions  from  1794  to  1804,  when  he  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress. He  also  held  the  office  of  State's  Attorney  for 
Middlesex  County  from  1797  to  1805,  and  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  24th  Regiment  of  Militia  in  1802. 

He  retained  his  position  in  Congress  until  1821. 
.Later  he  removed  to  Pennsylvania,  and  thence  to  the 
residence  of  his  son  in  Saginaw,  Michigan,  where  he  died 
on  September  9,  1838,  in  his  77th  year. 

He  married,  in  New  Haven,  Gitty  Van  Voorhis,  and 
had  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  One  son  and  one 
daughter  died  in  infancy. 


154  Yale  College 

In  an  obituary  notice  he  is  described  as  "possessed  of 
handsome  talents,  a  vein  of  sprightly  good-humored  wit, 
an  amiable  disposition,  and  highly  polished  and  agreeable 
manners." 

He  published : 

1.  An  Oration,  delivered  at  East-Haddam,  in  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut, at  the  request  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  First  Society  in 
that  town,  on  the  22d  of  Feb.  A.  D.  1800.     Hartford,  1800.     8°, 
pp.  1 8. 

[Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

2.  Congress. — House  of  Representatives. — Friday  Morning,  Jan. 
6,  1809. — Speech,  on  the  question  of  passing  to  a  third  reading  the 
bill  for  enforcing  the  Embargo.    Baltimore.    8°,  pp.  5.      [B.  Ath. 

The  speaker,  of  course,  argues  against  the  Bill. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hartford    Daily    Courant,    Oct.   5,       E.  Haddam,  129-31. 
1838.    Niles,  Old  Chimney  Stacks  of 


SAMUEL  NOTT,  the  second  child  and  elder  son  of  Stephen 
Nott,  a  shoemaker,  and  grandson  of  the  Rev.  Abraham 
Nott  (Yale  1720),  of  Pautapaug  (now  Essex),  in  Say- 
brook,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Saybrook,  where  his 
father  then  kept  a  country  store,  on  January  23,  1754.  His 
mother  was  Deborah,  second  daughter  of  Samuel  Selden, 
of  Lyme,  Connecticut.  His  grandfather  Nott  died  when 
he  was  two  years  old,  and  left  his  library  to  this  grand- 
son, hoping  that  he  would  enter  the  ministry. 

In  his  early  childhood  his  father  met  with  serious 
reverses,  in  consequence  of  which  he  removed,  perhaps 
about  1764,  to  Millington  Parish,  in  East  Haddam,  Con- 
necticut, and  began  business  as  a  tanner.  In  1772  the 
family  settled  on  a  farm  in  Ashford,  in  Windham  County, 
where  another  son,  afterwards  the  President  of  Union 
College,  was  born. 

Meantime  Samuel  Nott  had  been  brought  up  to  manual 
labor,  which  was  varied  as  he  grew  older  by  other  employ- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  155 

merits,  until  at  the  age  of  20  he  began  to  teach  a  district 
school,  which  stirred  in  him  a  desire  for  a  college  edu- 
cation. In  the  spring  of  1774,  he  began  his  preparatory 
studies,  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Welch 
(Yale  1749),  of  Mansfield,  where  he  joined  the  church 
about  this  time. 

He  was  engaged  in  teaching  in  New  Haven  in  his 
Senior  year,  and  so  continued  until  March,  1781,  when  he 
broke  off  on  account  of  poor  health.  During  this  time 
(including  his  Senior  year)  he  was  studying  for  the  min- 
istry under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards; 
and  on  May  29,  1781,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
New  Haven  Association  of  Ministers. 

For  a  few  months  he  supplied  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Bridgehampton,  Long  Island;  but  left  that  place  in 
consequence  of  an  attack  of  intermittent  fever,  and  in 
October,  1781,  was  invited  to  preach  in  the  Second  Parish 
in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  then  called  Norwich  West  Farms, 
now  Franklin. 

This  community  had  suffered  from  a  long  vacancy  in 
the  pastorate,  but  after  about  three  months'  experience 
of  Mr.  Nott's  gifts,  they  united  in  a  call  to  him,  on  a 
salary  of  $333. 

He  accepted  the  call,  and  was  ordained  over  a  church 
of  72  members  on  March  18,  1782,  the  sermon  being 
preached  by  his  former  instructor,  Mr.  Welch. 

At  the  time  of  his  settlement  his  health  was  considerably 
impaired,  and  for  three  years  he  was  obliged  to  be  very 
careful  of  himself;  but  his  health  gradually  improved,  so 
that  he  was  able  to  perform  an  extraordinary  amount  of 
ministerial  labor,  for  an  almost  unprecedented  length  of 
years.  He  was  privileged  to  admit  over  400  persons  to 
his  church. 

He  was  honored  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
from  this  College  in  1825,  and  continued  unaided  in  the 
regular  discharge  of  his  duties  until  December,  1847,  or 
for  nearly  sixty-six  years. 


156  Yale  College 

After  this  he  only  occasionally  supplied  the  pulpit,  and 
in  March,  1849,  a  colleague-pastor  was  settled.  He 
preached  for  the  last  time  in  the  summer  of  1849,  when 
95 YZ  years  old;  but  attended  public  worship  with  scarcely 
an  omission  up  to  the  time  of  his  fatal  accident. 

On  May  17,  1852,  his  dressing-gown  took  fire  from 
the  stove  in  his  room,  and  he  was  so  severely  burned  on. 
the  hand  that  his  death  ensued  on  May  26,  in  his  99th  year. 

He  married,  on  February  14,  1782,  Lucretia,  daughter 
of  Josiah  and  Abigail  Taylor,  of  (North)  Mansfield,  who 
died  on  September  22,  1834,  aged  76  years. 

Of  their  eleven  children,  the  eldest  and  youngest  sons 
were  graduated  at  Union  College,  in  1808  and  1822 
respectively.  One  daughter  married  the  Rev.  John  Hyde 
(Yale  1803),  and  another  married  his  classmate,  the  Rev. 
Eli  Hyde;  a  third  married  the  Rev.  Barnabas  Bruen 
(Union  College  1816). 

Besides  attending  assiduously  and  energetically  to  his 
parochial  duties,  he  found  time  to  fit  more  than  forty  young 
men  for  College  (twenty  of  them  his  own  parishioners), 
and  to  superintend  the  education  of  many  more. 

He  is  represented  as  simple  in  his  manners,  warm  in  his 
affections,  and  very  social;  in  the  pulpit,  grave,  earnest, 
dignified,  and  impressive;  in  his  sermons  (which  were 
mainly  extemporaneous)  there  was  great  simplicity  of 
thought  and  style,  but  occasionally  real  -eloquence. 

An  engraving  from  his  portrait,  at  the  age  of  sixty,  is 
published  in  the  History  of  Franklin,  and  elsewhere;  an 
engraving  from  another  picture  taken  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
four  is  given  in  the  Connecticut  Quarterly  for  1897. 

He  published : 

i.  A  Funeral  Oration,  upon  the  death  of  Samuel  Gurley,  a 
Member  of  the  Sophimore  Class,  in  Yale-College  .  . — Delivered 
in  the  Chapel,  December  5th,  1778.  New-Haven.  8°,  pp.  15. 

[U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

Nott  and  Gurley  were  classmates,  and  came  to  College  from  the 
same  town. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  157 

2.  A  Sermon   [from  Phil,  i,  21],  preached  at  the  Interment  of 
Deacon  Joseph  Hunt  of  Norwich;   who  departed  this  Life,  March 
22d,  1786.    Norwich,  1786.    sm.  4°,  pp.  36.      [A.  C.  A.    U.  T.  S. 

3.  A  Sermon  [from  Hebr.  xiii,  18],  delivered  at  the  Ordination 
of  the  Rev.  Oliver  Ayer,  .  .  in  West-Stockbridge — May  29,  1793. 
Stockbridge,  1793.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

Mr.  Ayer  had  been  prepared  for  College  by  Dr.  Nott. 

4.  Prayer,  eminently  the  duty  of  rulers,  in  the  times  of  trial; 
and  the  nation  happy,  whose  God  is  the  Lord. — A  Sermon  [from 
Ps.   cxliv,    11-15],  preached  at  Hartford,  in  Connecticut,   on  the 
General  Election,  May  nth,  1809.     Hartford,  1809.     8°,  pp.  36. 

[A.   C.  A.     Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.     N.   Y.  State  Libr.     U.  S. 
U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

5.  Some  of  the  arguments   stated,   that  may  be  urged  by  the 
ministering  servants  of  Christ,  in  beseeching  sinners,  not  to  receive 
the  grace  of  God  in  vain. — A  Sermon  [  from  2  Cor.  vi,  I  ]  preached 
Jan.   i6th,   1812,  at  the   Installation  of  the  Rev.  Asahel  Hooker, 
as  Pastor  of  the  Second  Church  and  Society  in  Norwich.    Norwich, 
1812.    8°,  pp.  20. 

[B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S. 

This  sermon  is  a  striking  example  of  the  scriptural  basis  of  the 
author's  compositions,  having  no  less  than  seventy-three  foot-notes 
of  references  to  texts  quoted  from  the  Bible. 

6.  The  future  habitation  of  believers,  superior  to  their  present; 
and  the  importance  of  being  ready  for  the  day  of  judgment;   illus- 
trated  in   Two   Sermons,   preached   March   8,    1812,   at   Lebanon, 
Exeter  Society,  the  first  Sabbath  after  the  death  of  the  Rev.  John 
Gurley.     Hartford,  1812.    8°,  pp.  22. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 
U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

7.  A  Sermon  before  the  Foreign  Mission  Society  of  Norwich 
and  its  vicinity.     1814. 

8.  A  Funeral   Sermon    [from    I    Cor.   vii,   29-31],   preached   at 
Mansfield,   First  Society,   September   15,   1815,   at  the   funeral  of 
Mrs.    Mary   Hanford   Williams,   consort   of   the   Rev.    Samuel   P. 
Williams.     Hartford,  1815.     8°,  pp.  20. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

9.  The    Righteous    in    everlasting    Remembrance. — A    Sermon 
[from  Ps.  cxii,  6],  preached  at  Plainfield,    (Con.)    February   16, 


158  Yale  College 

1816,  at  the  Funeral  of  Joel  Benedict,  D.D.     Windham,  1816.    8°, 
pp.  20.  [Brozvn  Univ.     Y.  C. 

10.  Future  rewards  and  punishments. — A  Sermon   [from  Hebr. 
ix,  27]  preached  at  the  Funeral  of  the  Rev.  Moses  C.  Welch,  D.D. 
Pastor  of  the  Second  Church  of  Christ  in  Mansfield,  April  28  [23], 

1824.  Hartford,  1824.    8°,  pp.  18. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

11.  A  Sermon   [from  Job  xi,  7-9],  preached  at  the  Funeral  of 
the  Rev.  Zebulon  Ely,  Nov.  20,  1824. 

In  Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  Zebulon  Ely,  by  Ezra  Stiles  Ely.     Phila- 
delphia, 1825.    pp.  47-56,  8°.  [Y.  C. 

12.  The  importance  of  hearing  the  Word  of  God. — A  Sermon 
[from  Rom.  x,   17],  preached  at  North-Stonington,  at  the  Ordi- 
nation of  Rev.  Joseph  Ayer,  Jun.  A.B.  an  Evangelist,  June  29th, 

1825.  Stonington,  1825.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.C.A.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-18. 

13.  "Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped  us." — An  Address,  Delivered 
by  Request,  to  the  Citizens  of  Norwich,  July  4,  1827.     Norwich. 
8°,  pp.  16.  [A.  C.  A. 

14.  Reasons  for  Ministerial  Fidelity. — A  Half  Century  Sermon 
[from  2  Peter  i.  12,  15]  :    preached  at  Franklin,  March  13,  1832. 
Norwich,  1832.    8°,  pp.  28.  [A.  C.  A.    Brown  Univ. 

The  same.     Second  edition.     Norwich,  1832.    8°,  pp.  28. 
[B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.     Harv.     M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

15.  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  eathen  [sic]  vessels. — A  Sermon 
[from  2  Cor.  iv,  7],  preached  at  Lisbon,  Hanover  Society,  at  the 
funeral  of  Andrew  Lee,  D.D.    . .    :    who  died  August  24,   1832, 
aged  87  years.     Norwich,  1832.     8°,  pp.  12. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

16.  A  Sermon  [from  John  xvi,  33],  preached  at  Franklin,  Second 
Society,  October  3,  1833,  at  the  Funeral  of  Nathan  Lord,  Deacon 
of  the  Church  in  Lisbon,   Second  Society.     Norwich,   1834.     8°, 
pp.  16.  [U.  T.  S. 

17.  The   Sixtieth  Anniversary   Sermon    [from  Luke  ii,   28-32], 
preached  at  Franklin,  March  13,  1842.    Norwich,  1842.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brozvn  Univ.-    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  159 

AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Quarterly,  iii,  167-77,  276-85.       of    Dr.    E.    Nott,    14,    22-23,    25-28. 
Records  and  Papers  of  the  N.  Lon-       Windham  County  Telegraph,  June  27, 
don  County  Hist.   Society,  ii,  32-33.       1852.     Woodward,  Hist,  of  Franklin, 
Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Purpit,       19,  40-41,  104-07,  129-32,  137. 
ii,  190-94.     Van  Santvoord,  Memoirs 


TIMOTHY  PHELPS,  the  eldest  son  and  second  child  of 
John  and  Mary  Phelps,  of  Stafford,  Connecticut,  and  a 
nephew  of  Aaron  Phelps  (Yale  1758)  and  Seth  Phelps 
(Yale  1760),  was  born  about  1757.  His  mother  was  the 
only  child  of  William  and  Abigail  Richardson,  of  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland,  and  Stafford.  A  sister  married  Isaac 
Mills  (Yale  1786). 

He  settled  in  New  Haven  as  a  merchant,  and  became 
very  prosperous. 

In  1806  he  removed  to  the  neighborhood  of  New  York 
City. 

He  died  on  November  20,  1812,  aged  55  years,  while  on 
his  passage  from  La  Guaira,  Venezuela,  to  the  island  of 
Saint  Thomas,  in  the  West  Indies. 

He  was  married  in  New  Haven  by  the  Rev.  Bela  Hub- 
bard,  on  March  21,  1795,  to  Jennet,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Broome,  of  New  Haven,*  and.  sister  of  Samuel  Platt 
Broome  (Yale  1786). 

She  died  in  New  Haven  on  April  25,  1802,  in  her  28th 
year;  and  early  in  the  following  September  he  married 
her  sister  Henrietta,  who  died  on  Staten  Island,  New 
York,  in  August,  1811. 

He  married  a  third  time;  and  his  widow,  Mrs.  Statira 
Phelps,  died  on  April  i,  1847,  aged  63  years. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  two  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters ;  and  by  his  second  marriage  two  daughters  and  three 
sons. 

The  eldest  daughter  was  adopted,  after  her  father's 
death,  by  Daniel  Wadsworth,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
and  married  the  Rev.  Jonathan  M.  Wainwright  (Harvard 
1812),  afterwards  Provisional  Bishop  of  New  York. 


160  Yale  College 

Two  familiar  letters  by  him  on  political  subjects, 
addressed  to  his  fellow-Federalist,  Oliver  Wolcott,  in 
1800,  are  printed  in  Gibbs's  selection  from  the  Wolcott 
Papers. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,       Administrations  of  Washington  and 
26.     Baldwin,  Hist.  Address  on  xooth       Adams,  ii,  380,  418-19.     Phelps  Fam- 
Anniversary  of  the  Chamber  of  Com-       ily,  i,  186,  304-05. 
merce   of    New    Haven,    13.     Gibbs, 


ERASTUS  PIXLEY,  a  son  of  Moses  Pixley,  of  Great  Bar- 
rington,  Massachusetts,  was  born  probably  about  1757. 

He  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  Theodore  Sedgwick 
(Yale  1765),  and  after  his  admission  to  the  bar  began 
practice  in  1784  in  his  native  town,  at  first  in  Mr.  Sedg- 
wick's  office. 

About  1790  he  removed  to  Bennington,  Vermont,  where 
he  died  on  May  31,  1795. 

He  married  in  Farmington,  Connecticut,  on  June  5, 
1785,  Abi,  fourth  daughter  of  Lieutenant  Elisha  and 
Sarah  (Lewis)  Strong,  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts, 
and  Farmington,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter. She  died  while  on  a  visit  to  her  children  in  Glens 
Falls,  New  York,  on  August  25,  1832,  at  the  age  of  76. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight,    Strong    Family,    ii,    1268.       Diary,  ii,  325.     Taylor,  Hist,  of  Great 
N.    E.    Hist,    and    Geneal.    Register,       Barrington,  370. 
xxxix,    340.      Pres.    Stiles,   Literary 


DANIEL  POTTER,  a  brother  of  Flam  Potter  (Yale  1765), 
Isaiah  Potter  (Yale  1767),  and  Lyman  Potter  (Yale 
1772),  was  born  in  Northbury  Society,  now  Terry ville,  in 
Plymouth,  Connecticut,  on  February  15  (or  17),  1758. 

His  brother  Lyman  was  settled  in  1775  over  a  church  in 
Norwich,  Vermont,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Dart- 
mouth College,  and  probably  for  this  reason  he  entered 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  161 

that  institution;  but  came  to  Yale  at  the  opening  of  the 
Junior  year.  He  was  admitted  to  the  College  Church  on 
profession  of  his  faith  in  July,  1780. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town  as  a  farmer,  and  there 
married,  on  January  25,  1781,  Martha,  youngest  child  of 
Caleb  and  Susanna  (Todd)  Humiston,  of  Plymouth. 

He  was  a  representative  to  the  General  Assembly  in 
fourteen  sessions  between  1786  and  1811.  Dr.  Henry 
Bronson,  who  knew  him  well,  describes  him  as  a  man  of 
vigorous  intellect  and  sound  judgment,  and  as  exerting  a 
wide  influence.  He  rose  to  the  rank  of  General  in  the 
State  Militia. 

He  died  in  Plymouth  on  April  27,  1842,  in  his  85th 
year,  and  his  wife  died  the  previous  week,  on  April  21,  in 
her  8oth  year. 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  one  daughter:  one 
son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1804,  and  the  daughter 
married  the  Rev.  Luther  Hart  (Yale  1807). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,   Hist,   of   Waterbury,   i,       pt.  5,  16.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 
appendix,  75,  107.     Bronson,  Hist,  of       ii,  305,  441.     Tuttle  Family,  68. 
Waterbury,  427.     Potter  Genealogies, 


JOHN  ROBINSON,  third  son  of  Ichabod  and  Lydia 
(Brown)  Robinson,  and  a  brother  of  the  Rev.  William 
Robinson  (Yale  1773),  was  born  in  Lebanon,  Connecticut, 
on  April  24,  1760,  and  entered  College  at  the  opening  of 
the  Junior  year. 

After  graduation  he  remained  at  College  as  a  Scholar 
on  the  Berkeley  foundation,  and  also  studied  theology 
here.  He  joined  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his 
faith,  on  December  29,  1782,  and  was  licensed  to  preach 
by  the  New  Haven  Association  of  Ministers  on  May  27, 
1783. 

In  the  summer  of  1788  he  went  to  Westborough, 
Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  to  preach  as  a  candi- 


162  Yale  College 

date,  and  gave  such  satisfaction  that  he  was  called  to 
settle  by  the  church  on  September  29.  The  town  unani- 
mously ratified  the  call  on  October  13,  and  fixed  his  salary 
at  £80  a  year.  He  accepted  in  November,  and  was 
ordained  on  January  14,  1789.  The  sermon  preached  on 
the  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathanael  Emmons  was 
afterwards  published. 

Mr.  Robinson's  ministry  continued  for  seventeen  years 
in  uneventful  course;  but  an  injudicious  speech  at  a  pub- 
lic meeting,  on  or  about  the  Fourth  of  July,  1806,  in  which 
he  expressed  in  an  unusually  extreme  manner  his  strong 
Federalist  sympathies,  stirred  up  violent  opposition.  In 
December  following,  a  petition,  signed  by  twenty-nine  men, 
was  presented  in  town-meeting,  looking  towards  his  dis- 
mission. In  January,  1807,  the  town  accepted  the  terms 
proposed  by  him,  that  he  should  be  regularly  dismissed  by 
council  in  nine  months  and  receive  his  salary  till  that 
time,  besides  retaining  the  £200  settlement  money  which 
had  been  paid  him  at  his  ordination.  The  church  con- 
curred in  this  action  in  September,  and  a  council  on  Octo- 
ber i  voted  his  dismission. 

He  continued  to  reside  in  Westborough  and  manifested 
a  petty  jealousy  of  his  successor  in  office  by  a  series  of  dis- 
turbances in  the  time  of  public  worship,  which  resulted  in 
a  trial  before  the  church  in  1814.  This  unhappy  contro- 
versy was  patched  up  by  the  acceptance  of  a  confession 
which  he  made  in  December,  1814;  and  in  1815  he 
removed  to  his  paternal  homestead. 

There  also  he  got  into  difficulty  with  the  church,  which 
in  1818  declined  to  receive  him  by  letter  from  the  church 
in  Westborough,  but  afterwards  on  confession  of  his  fault 
did  receive  him. 

He  fell  dead  in  a  fit  in  Lebanon,  while  walking  in  the 
street,  on  May  2,  1832,  aged  72  years. 

He  married,  about  January  i,  1796,  Abigail  (or 
Nabby),  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  Nathan  and  Abigail 
(Rice)  Drury,  of  Framingham,  Massachusetts,  who  died 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  163 

in  Lebanon  on  December  29,   1816,  aged  42  years.     A 
daughter  and  a  son  by  this  marriage  lived  to  maturity. 

He  next  married,  in  February,  1824,  Elizabeth  Tiffany, 
of  Lebanon,  who  survived  him  for  many  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Blake,  Centurial  Hist,  of  the  Men-  Literary  Diary,  ii,  305,  383,  423;    iii, 

don  Association,    134-35.     DeForest,  51,  79-80,  336.       Temple,  History  of 

Hist,  of  Westborough,  201-03,  211-17.  Framingham,  529.      Walworth,  Hyde 

Robinson,  Memoir  of  Rev.  Wm.  Rob-  Genealogy,    i,   296-97.      Westborough 

inson,  59.      Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Vital  Records,  202. 
Amer.    Pulpit,    i,   697.     Pres.    Stiles, 


SAMUEL  RUSSELL,,  second  son  and  child  of  the  Rev. 
William  Russell  (Yale  1745),  of  Windsor,  Connecticut, 
was  baptized  (as  Samuel  Andrew  Russell)  on  December 

30,  1759- 

After  graduation  he  remained  at  College  as  a  graduate 
student,  and  for  a  year  (ending  May,  1783)  as  Butler. 

On  September  21,  1783,  he  married  Lucy,  the  eldest 
child  of  Stephen  Munson  (Yale  1751),  of  New  Haven, 
who  died  on  September  24,  1785,  in  her  2Qth  year,  leaving 
one  daughter. 

He  next  married,  in  New  Haven,  on  November  n, 
1790,  Sarah  (or  Sally),  daughter  of  Richard  and  Susan 
(De  Luce)  Woodward. 

Soon  after  this  date  he  removed  to  New  York  City, 
where  he  embarked  in  the  West  India  trade,  and  was  suc- 
cessfully engaged  until  the  interruption  caused  by  the 
war  of  1812. 

After  this  he  was  employed  in  the  United  States  Navy, 
as  Deputy  Commissary  of  Purchase,  with  the  rank  of 
Colonel.  He  was  elected  to  the  State  Assembly  in  1806, 
1807,  and  1816. 

In  1816  or  1817  he  removed  to  Buffalo,  New  York,  of 
which  he  became  a  distinguished  citizen.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  in  1821,  and 
in  1824  a  Presidential  Elector.  He  was  long  a  Judge  in 


164  Yale  College 

Niagara  County,  being  first  appointed  in  April,  1817; 
and  in  April,  1831,  he  was  appointed  Post-Master  of 
Buffalo,  which  office  he  held  until  his  death  there,  on  July 
2,  1834,  in  his  /5th  year,  "loved,  esteemed,  and  respected 
by  all  who  knew,  him." 

His  second  wife  died  suddenly  in  New  York  on  August 
8,  1807,  and  about  1809  ne  married  her  sister  Susan,  who 
died  on  September  7,  1819,  in  her  63d  year. 

Besides  the  daughter  by  his  first  marriage,  he  had  four 
sons  and  a  daughter  by  his  second  wife. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  i,  Hist.  Society's  Papers,  iii,  583.  Pres. 
16,  19.  Buffalo  Historical  Society's  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  30,  37, 
Publications,  i,  377;  iv,  300.  Mun-  71,  524.  H.  R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of 
son  Record,  i,  167.  N.  H.  Colony  Wethersfield.  ii,  601. 


JABEZ  HUNTINGTON  TOMLINSON,  the  only  child  of 
Captain  Gideon  Tomlinson,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Zachariah  and  Hannah  (Beach)  Tom- 
linson, of  Stratford,  was  born  in  that  town  on  December 
24,  1760.  His  mother  was  Hannah,  fifth  daughter  of 
Colonel  Jabez  and  Elizabeth  (Edwards)  Huntington,  of 
Windham,  Connecticut.  He  was  left  an  orphan  at  the 
age  of  five,  and  was  for  the  next  two  years  an  inmate 
of  the  family  of  his  grandfather  Tomlinson.  After  his 
death,  in  1768,  he  was  under  the  care  of  a  family  con- 
nection, the  Rev.  Izrahiah  Wetmore  (Yale  1748),  of 
Stratford. 

During  the  May  vacation  in  his  Junior  year,while  on  a 
visit  in  Stratford,  he  was  captured  by  a  party  of  refugees 
in  the  British  service,  and  on  his  exchange,  several  weeks 
later,  he  resolved  to  enter  the  army,  the  College  being 
largely  broken  up  by  the  war. 

He  was  appointed  Ensign  of  Colonel  Samuel  B.  Webb's 
Continental  Regiment  on  April  5,  1780,  and  served  in  the 
division  of  the  army  under  Washington's  immediate  com- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  165 

mand.  His  degree  was  given  him  regularly  with  his  Class. 
He  was  one  of  the  officers  on  guard  at  Major  Andre's 
quarters  during  his  captivity  and  trial,  in  October,  1780, 
and  in  this  capacity  he  received  from  Andre  the  pen-and- 
ink  sketch  of  himself  now  preserved  in  the  Yale  Library. 

He  remained  in  service  until  May  I,  1781,  when  he 
resigned  and  returned  to  Stratford,  where  the  rest  of  his 
life  was  spent  on  the  paternal  farm. 

He  served  as  a  Representative  in  the  General  Assembly 
in  twenty-nine  sessions  between  1790  and  1815,  and  filled 
other  responsible  stations  in  the  town  with  fidelity, 
efficiency,  and  public  spirit. 

He  was  distinguished  for  great  simplicity  of  character, 
generous  frankness,  and  warm  practical  piety. 

He  died  in  Stratford  on  January  14,  1849,  m  ms  Sgth 
year. 

He  married,  in  January,  1780,  while  still  an  under- 
graduate and  a  minor,  Rebecca,  second  daughter  of 
Joseph  and  Sarah  (Blackleach)  Lewis,  of  Stratford.  She 
died  on  January  I,  1823,  in  her  62d  year. 

Their  children  were  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
elder  son,  who  alone  survived  him,  was  graduated  at  Yale 
in  1802,  and  was  Governor  of  the  State  from  1827  to  1831. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Johnston,  Yale  in  the  Revolution,       231;   ii,  1238,  1311,  1315;   Tomlinsons 
346.       Orcutt,  Hist,   of   Stratford,   i,       in  America,  65,  97-102. 


LEMUEL  TYLER,  son  of  Elnathan  and  Lucy  (Bissell) 
Tyler,  of  Northford  Parish  (the  present  town  of  North 
Branford),  in  Branford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  that 
parish  on  August  17,  1761.  Both  of  his  parents  died  while 
he  was  quite  young. 

He  was  occupied  in  teaching  for  several  years  after 
graduation,  and  then  studied  divinity  under  the  care  of 
the  Rev.  Benjamin  Trumbull,  of  North  Haven,  Connect- 
icut. 


1 66  Yale  College 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  East 
Association  of  Ministers  on  September  27,  1785,  and 
preached  in  various  pulpits. 

After  a  probation  of  nearly  or  quite  a  year,  the  Society 
in  Harwinton,  Connecticut,  proposed  to  him  a  settlement, 
on  March  5,  1787,  but  nothing  came  of  this. 

He  next  supplied  for  some  months  the  vacant  church  in 
Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  but  for  his  opposition  to  the  half- 
way covenant  would  probably  have  been  settled  there. 

Near  the  beginning  of  %the  year  1789  he  was  unani- 
mously called  to  settle  in  Preston,  Connecticut,  on  a  salary 
of  £100,  and  having  accepted  the  call  he  was  ordained 
there  on  May  7.  The  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Trumbull 
was  afterwards  printed. 

He  served  in  this  office  until  his  deeply  regretted  death, 
in  Preston,  on  September  18,  1810,  in  his  5Oth  year.  At 
his  ordination  the  church  consisted  of  eighteen  members, 
and  at  his  death  it  numbered  twenty-eight.  The  spread  of 
Separate  churches  in  the  vicinity  accounts  for  the  feeble- 
ness of  this  Society. 

He  was  remembered  as  an  excellent  preacher,  a  fine 
singer  and  very  fond  of  music,  and  a  thorough  disciplin- 
arian in  his  family. 

In  the  year  of  his  ordination  he  married  Ruth  Fowler, 
of  Northford,  who  died  in  Preston  on  April  18,  1796,  aged 
34  years.  Their  children  were  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters; the  elder  daughter  married  Eleazer  B.  Downing, 
M.D.  (honorary  Yale  College  1833). 

He  married,  secondly,  in  September,  1797,  Sally  Crary, 
of  Preston,  who  died  on  March  4,  1813,  aged  37  years. 
By  this  marriage  he  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bi-centennial    Celebration    of    the       75,  165-66,  169,  173.     Chipman,  Hist. 
First  Church  of   Preston,  37,  69-70,       of  Harwinton,  71. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  167 

WILLIAM  JOSEPH  WHITING,  the  third  son  and  fourth 
child  of  Judge  John  Whiting  (Yale  1740),  of  New  Haven, 
was  born  in  New  Haven  on  October  15,  1760.  He  was 
commonly  known  as  Joseph  Whiting. 

He  settled  in  New  Haven,  and  here  married  on  Novem- 
ber 27,  1784,  Martha,  daughter  of  Medad  Lyman,  an  inn- 
keeper. 

He  was  employed  as  Clerk  of  the  County  and  City 
Courts,  as  also  of  the  Probate  Court  (1781-87),  of  which 
his  father  had  for  many  years  been  Judge. 

He  died  in  New  Haven,  highly  esteemed,  after  a  short 
illness,  on  February  7,  1794,  in  his  34th  year.  His  resi- 
dence was  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Second  National 
Bank,  and  his  grave  is  under  the  Center  Church. 

His  wife  was  left  with  five  of  their  six  children.  One 
child  died  soon,  and  the  others  (one  son  and  three  daugh- 
ters) she  brought  up  with  credit  on  narrow  means.  One 
daughter  married  the  Hon.  Henry  C.  Flagg  (Yale  1811). 

Mrs.  Whiting  died  in  New  Haven  on  February  4,  1829, 
aged  72  years. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,   Early   Conn.   Marriages,   i,       Haven  Colony  Hist.  Society's  Papers, 
17.     Coleman,  Lyman  Genealogy,  457.       i,   129.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 
Conn.  Journal,  Febr.  13,  1794.     Good-       iii,  514. 
win,  Genealogical  Notes,  126.      New 


JOSHUA  WILLIAMS  was  born  in  Rocky  Hill  Parish  in 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  on  February  3,  1761,  the  ninth 
child  and  fifth  son  of  Captain  Elias  Williams,  of  Rocky 
Hill,  and  grandson  of  Ephraim  and  Elizabeth  (Russell) 
Williams.  His  mother  was  Prudence,  youngest  child  of 
Captain  Joshua  and  Abigail  (Warner)  Robbins,  of 
Wethersfield. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South  Association  of  Min- 
isters in  October,  1782. 


1 68  Yale  College 

He  had  preached  in  various  places  before  he  began,  in 
September,  1784,  to  supply  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Southampton,  Long  Island.  After  three  months'  service 
he  was  called  to  the  pastorate,  in  December,  1784,  on  a 
salary  of  £70;  and  on  May  26,  1785,  he  was  ordained 
and  installed  there. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  pastorate  forty-two  persons 
were  added  to  the  church.  He  was  also  useful  by  abun- 
dant preaching  as  an  evangelist  in  other  parts  of  the 
Island;  but  at  his  own  request  the  pastoral  relation  was 
dissolved  by  the  Suffolk  Presbytery  on  April  21,  1789. 

Some  four  or  five  months  later  he  began  to  supply  the 
pulpit  in  Harwinton,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  and 
on  December  28  he  received  an  invitation  to  settle  there, 
which  he  accepted.  He  was  accordingly  installed  as  pas- 
tor over  a  church  of  128  members  on  March  3,  1790,  and 
continued  in  office  for  nearly  thirty-two  years.  During 
most  of  this  period  he  was  happy  in  the  affections  and 
confidence  of  a  united  people;  but  in  1817  he  was 
attacked  with  severe  illness,  which  left  him  in  impaired 
health,  by  which  and  by  other  trials  he  was  led  to  request 
a  dismission,  which  was  granted  on  January  9,  1822. 
During  his  ministry  he  had  admitted  to  communion  four 
hundred  and  eighty-six  persons. 

He  removed  in  1823  to  Bethlehem  in  the  same  county, 
where  his  younger  son  (Yale  1819)  was  a  physician;  and 
thence  in  1831  (after  his  son's  removal  and  subsequent 
death)  to  Middletown  Upper  Houses,  now  Cromwell,  in 
Middlesex  County,  where  his  elder  son  (Yale  1805)  was 
pastor.  Later  he  declined  another  call  to  pastoral  service 
on  considerations  of  health.  His  son  died  in  Cromwell  in 
1832,  and  he  himself  died  there,  on  February  8,  1836,  at 
the  age  of  75. 

He  married  Mary  Webb  in  Rocky  Hill  on  October  24, 
1781,  who  survived  him,  dying  on  May  16,  1838,  at  the 
age  of  77.  Besides  their  two  sons,  three  daughters  grew 
to  maturity.  The  Hon.  Abijah  Catlin  (Yale  1825)  was 
a  grandson. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  169 

Mr.  Williams  was  a  sincere  and  ardent  Christian,  more 
effective  as  a  pastor  than  as  a  preacher,  and  particularly 
successful  in  seasons  of  revival.  He  was  of  medium 
height,  rather  slender  in  form,  arid  very  quick  in  his  move- 
ments. Of  sanguine  temperament  and  warm  heart,  he 
was  an  affectionate  father  to  his  people,  and  faithful 
in  season  and  out  of  season. 

Nothing  is  known  to  have  appeared  in  print  from  him, 
except  the  following  articles  in  the  Connecticut  Evangel- 
ical Magazine: — 

in  volume  i,  pp.  462-473,  June,  '1801,  two  Letters  giving  an 
Account  of  a  Revival  of  Religion  in  Harwinton  in  1799  ; 

in  volume  7,  pp.  365-371,  April,  1807,  a  Narrative  of  a  Revival 
of  Religion  in  Harwinton  in  1805  and  1806; 

in  volume  5  of  the  Second  Series,  pp.  106-110,  March,  1812,  A 
short  account  of  the  life,  conversion  and  death  of  Thomas  Skinner. 

The  substance  of  the  first  two  of  these  articles  is  reprinted  in 
Dr.  Bennet  Tyler's  New  England  Revivals,  pp.  121-142,  335-349, 
Boston,  1846. 

A  sympathetic  and  appreciative  sketch  of  his  life,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Noah  Porter  (Yale  1803),  was  published  in  the 
Connecticut  Observer  newspaper  a  few  weeks  after  his 
death. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,  Connecticut  Observer,  March  5,  1836. 
76.  Centennial  Anniversary  of  Litch-  Hoivell,  Early  Hist,  of  Southampton, 
field  County  Consociations,  114-15.  L.  I.,  2d  ed.,  111-13.  Stiles,  Hist,  of 
Chipman,  Hist,  of  Harwinton,  72-79.  Wethersfield,  ii,  831,  834. 


WILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  WILLIAMS,,  a  son  of  the  Rev. 
Warham  Williams  (Yale  1745),  of  Northford  Parish,  in 
(North)  Branford,  Connecticut,  and  a  brother  of  Jona- 
than Law  Williams  (Yale  1777),  was  born  in  Northford, 
on  February  10,  1763. 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation,  and  began  prac- 
tice in  Hatfield,  Massachusetts. 


0--   THF 

1    UNIVERSITY  } 


170  Yale  College 

In  1793  he  emigrated  to  Canandaigua,  New  York,  where 
he  established  himself  in  a  large  and  successful  practice, 
which  he  retained  until  near  the  close  of  his  long  life. 

He  died  in  Canandaigua  on  September  4,  1834,  in  his 
72d  year. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  plain  and  simple  man- 
ners, amiable  and  kind-hearted,  an  indefatigably  faithful 
physician  and  good  neighbor. 

He  married  Betsey  Chapin,  of  Hatfield,  a  daughter  of 
General  Israel  Chapin,  who  with  other  members  of  his 
family  removed  to  Canandaigua  about  the  same  time  with 
Dr.  Williams.  One  of  her  sisters  married  Dudley  Salton- 
stall  (Yale  1791). 

Several  sons  and  daughters  survived  their  father. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Turner,    History    of    Phelps    and       Family,  87. 
Gorham's   Purchase,   179.      Williams 


WILLIAM  WOODBRIDGE,,  the  youngest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Ashbel  Woodbridge  (Yale  1724),  of  Glastonbury,  Con- 
necticut, was  born  in  that  town  on  September  14,  1755, 
His  father  died  in  his  infancy,  and  after  three  of  his 
brothers  had  been  sent  to  College  he  seemed  destined  to  a 
life  on  the  farm  or  in  trade.  In  September,  1775,  with  the 
sole  object  of  entering  the  ministry,  he  resolved  on  obtain- 
ing a  college  education,  and  was  able  to  complete  his 
preparation  in  the  following  year. 

He  was  hampered  by  poverty  through  College,  but  was 
known  as  a  leader  in  the  religious  life  of  the  students. 
He  paid  his  way  by  teaching,  and  in  the  summer  of  1779 
began  his  peculiar  life-work  by  conducting  a  school  for 
young  ladies  in  Worthington  Society,  now  Berlin,  Con- 
necticut. In  the  ensuing  winter  he  held  an  evening  school 
of  a  more  advanced  character  for  girls  in  New  Haven, 
and  was  always  inclined  to  date  from  this  the  beginning 
of  superior  female  education  in  New  England.  A  similar 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  171 

school  succeeded  in  Ripton  Parish,  now  Huntington, 
Connecticut. 

In  July,  1780,  when  his  College  work  was  completed,  he 
took  charge  of  the  Grammar  School  in  Newburyport, 
Massachusetts,  from  which  place  he  was  called,  in  1783, 
on  a  salary  of  £100,  to  be  the  first  Preceptor  of  Phillips 
Academy  in  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  which  was  opened 
on  May  I  of  that  year. 

He.  married  there,  on  April  4,  1785,  Elizabeth,  second 
daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel  Brooks,  Junior,  and  Eliza- 
beth (Pike)  Brooks,  of  Exeter;  but  after  sixteen  months' 
feebleness  she  died  in  Exeter  on  November  16,  1787,  in 
her  26th  year.  Meantime  Mr.  Woodbridge  had  carried 
on  his  work  almost  unassisted,  until  under  the  strain  his 
health  seriously  broke  down,  while  the  numbers  of  the 
students  had  also  dwindled,  and  he  accordingly  resigned 
his  position  in  the  summer  of  1788. 

During  these  years  he  had  not  lost  sight  of  his  early 
consecration  to  the  ministry,  and  at  this  juncture,  in  July, 
1788,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Portsmouth  (New 
Hampshire)  Association  of  Congregational  Ministers, 
and  during  the  following  year  of  idleness  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  condition  of  his  health  he  resided  at  Harvard 
University,  occupied  in  study  and  occasional  preaching. 

In  1789  he  opened  in  Medford,  Massachusetts,  a  Young 
Ladies'  Academy,  which  he  believed  to  be  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  New  England.  The  school  (to  which  boys  also 
were  admitted)  flourished  for  seven  years,  or  until  the 
buildings  in  which  it  was  held  were  sold,  and  its  removal 
became  necessary. 

While  living  in  Medford  he  married,  in  Newport,  Rhode 
Island,  on  November  10,  1793,  Ann  (or  Nancy),  daughter 
of  John  Channing,  of  Newport,  and  sister  of  the  Rev. 
Henry  Channing  (Yale  1781). 

In  1796  he  was  offered  a  large  school  in  Charlestown, 
Massachusetts,  under  the  patronage  of  a  rich  Boston 
merchant,  whose  sudden  death  a  few  months  later  ruined 
the  enterprise. 


172  Yale  College 

From  1797  to  1800  he  taught  in  Middletown,  Connect- 
icut, and  preached  much  in  the  vicinity.  In  June,  1800, 
he  opened  a  school  for  both  sexes  in  Norwich,  Connect- 
icut; but  the  locality  selected  was  so  remote  from  the 
centres  of  population  that  after  a  couple  of  years  the 
school  had  to  be  closed  for  lack  of  patronage. 

From  1802  to  1809  he  taught  the  Public  Academy  in 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  where  his  second  wife  died  on  July 
5,  1809,  having  been  a  great  invalid  for  more  than  thir- 
teen years. 

He  married,  thirdly,  on  December  14,  1810,  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Samuel  Tuthill  (Yale  1745),  of  Morris- 
town,  New  Jersey,  and  widow  of  Jonathan  Stiles,  Junior, 
of  Morristown. 

After  a  brief  residence  in  New  York  City,  where  he 
was  taken  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York 
as  a  licentiate,  he  taught  for  two  years  (1811-1813)  in 
Philadelphia,  and  then  spent  some  time  as  a  home  mis- 
sionary in  the  supply  of  destitute  churches  in  Pennsylvania 
and  elsewhere. 

While  teaching  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  his  wife  died  there, 
on  July  12,  1822,  in  her  63d  year.  The  Address  delivered 
at  her  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joshua  L.  Wilson,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, was  subsequently  printed. 

On  August  1 6,  1824,  he  married,  in  Utica,  New  York, 
his  fourth  wife,  Abigail,  daughter  of  Joseph  Butler,  of 
Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  and  widow  of  Dr.  Solomon 
Wolcott,  of  Utica  (who  died  in  October,  1818). 

From  1827  to  1829  he  was  stationed  in  Salem,  Wayne 
County,  Pennsylvania,  as  a  missionary,  and  for  the  next 
year  in  Blakeslee,  Monroe  County.  After  that  his  home 
for  two  or  three  years  was  in  Utica  (where  his  wife  died 
on  May  20,  1835),  or  in  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  with 
his  .son. 

His  intimacy  with  his  classmate  Nott  led  to  his  spend- 
ing much  time  in  his  old  age  as  a  boarder  in  the  family 
of  Dr.  Nott  in  Franklin,  Connecticut.  He  was  invited 


Biographical  Sketches,  1780  173 

in  November,  1835,  while  residing  with  his  son  in  Boston, 
to  undertake  the  teaching  of  a  class  of  young  women  in 
Franklin,  and  had  just  finished  the  first  quarter's  service 
when  he  was  stricken  with  "apoplexy,  which  caused  his 
death  after  a  few  hours,  on  February  27,  1836,  in  his  8ist 
year.  He  was  buried  in  Franklin. 

His  children  were:  twin  daughters  by  his  first  wife, 
one  of  whom  died  in  infancy;  and  a  son  by  his  second 
wife,  who  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1811,  and  whose  only 
son  was  graduated  here  in  1855. 

His  diaries  and  other  manuscripts  remaining  in  the 
possession  of  the  family  testify  amply  to  his  devoutly 
religious  nature.  While  he  regarded  the  teacher's  office 
as  his  special  vocation,  and  was  actively  engaged  in  that 
work  for  upwards  of  fifty  years,  he  was  also  sincerely 
devoted  to  the  work  of  preaching,  and  though  never 
ordained,  was  with  that  exception  thoroughly  identified 
with  the  ministerial  profession  and  performed  a  vast 
amount  of  useful  labor  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  instruction 
of  Bible  classes. 

He  published: 

1.  A  Sermon   [from   I   Kings  xx,  39,  40]   on  the  Care  of  the 
Soul,  Delivered  to  the  Society  in  North-Killingworth,  and  published 
at  their  request.     Middletown,  1798.    8°,  pp.  40. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  Sermon  is  really  a  double  one,  that  is,  preached  in  two  parts. 

2.  A   Plain   and   Concise   Grammar  of   the   English   Language; 
containing  large  exercises  of  parsing  and  incorrect  English.     Mid- 
dletown, 1800.     12°,  pp.  60.  [Y.  C. 

3.  The   Plain   Spelling  Book,  and  Easy  Guide  to  Reading.    . . 
Middletown,  1800.    12°,  pp.  143.  [Harv. 

4.  A  Sermon  [from  John  ix,  4]  delivered  at  Middlefield,  on  the 
Lord's  Day,  April,    1799,  at  the  Funeral  of  Phinehas  Lyman.    Mid- 
dletown, 1800.     8°,  pp.  15. 

[Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.     U.  S. 

5.  A  Key  to  the  English  Language,  or  a  Spelling,  Parsing,  Deriv- 
ative, and  Denning  Dictionary ;    Selected  from  the  most  approved 


174  Yale  College 

authors — viz.     Johnson,    Bailey,    Entick,    [etc.]     .  .     Middletown, 
1801.     12°,  pp.  iv,  346.  [B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.     Y.  C. 

This  little  volume  gives  an  alphabetical  list  of  some  10,000  words, 
with  the  accent,  meaning,  and  synonym  of  each,  concisely  expressed. 

6.  An  Illustration  of  some  difficult  passages  of  Scripture,  on  the 
doctrine  of  Absolute  Predestination;   attempted  in  a  Sermon  [from 
Eph.  i,  u]   .  .     Middletown,  1805.    8°,  pp.  22. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

7.  The   Dead   Bird.     Boston    (Mass.   Sabbath   School    Society). 
[1835].     16°,  pp.  54.  [A.  C.  A. 

Anonymous.    A  dialogue  on  personal  religion. 

In  his  later  years  he  made  numerous  contributions  to  the  period- 
ical edited  by  his  son,  William  Channing  Woodbridge,  under  the 
title,  American  Journal  (and  Annals}  of  Education:  of  which  may 
be  particularly  specified  two  of  an  autobiographical  character,  viz. : — 

Progress  of  Female  Education  (Sept.,  1830,  pp.  421-423),  and, 
Female  Education  in  the  last  Century  (Nov.,  1831,  pp.  522-26). 

He  also  contributed  to  The  Juvenile  Rambler,  a  children's  paper 
published  in  Boston  about  1833-34. 

A  paper  by  him  On  the  Construction  of  School-Rooms  is  appended 
(pp.  272-78)  to  the  Lectures  of  the  American  Institute  of  Instruc- 
tion for  1831. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bagg,  Pioneers  of  Utica,  154.       C.  90.    Morristown  Presbyterian  Church 

C.    Baldivin,    Diary,    273-74.      Bell,  Record,  i,  61 ;    iv,  127.     N.  E.  Hist. 

Phillips     Exeter     Academy,     21-23  J  and  Geneal.  Register,  vii,  75-76.  Pres. 

Hist,  of  Exeter,  pt.  2,  5,  49.     Boston  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  385, 

Recorder,  March  n,  1836.      Brooks,  451.    H.  R.  Stiles,  Stiles  Family,  541. 

Hist,    of    Medford,    282.      Caulkins,  Usher,  Hist,  of  Medford,  298.    Wol- 

Hist.  of  Norwich,  2d  ed.,  544.    Mitch-  cott  Memorial,  385-86. 
ell,  Woodbridge   Record,   51-52,   89- 


Annals,  1780-81  175 


Annals,   1780-81 


The  most  notable  event  of  the  College  year  was  the 
sudden  death  of  Professor  Daggett,  the  pastor  of  the 
College  Church,  on  November  25,  1780,  after  twenty- 
five  years  of  service. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  held  in  Jan- 
uary following,  Abraham  Baldwin  (Yale  1772),  formerly 
a  Tutor,  and  now  Chaplain  in  the  Army,  was  elected  to 
the  vacant  Professorship.  He  did  not  finally  decline  the 
offer  until  Commencement,  when  the  Rev.  Samuel  Wales 
(Yale  1767),  of  Milford,  Connecticut,  was  chosen  to  the 
vacancy. 

This  was  the  first  Public  Commencement  held  under 
President  Stiles,  and  in  fact  the  first  since  1774. 

Tutor  William  Lockwood  (Yale  1774)  resigned  his 
office  at  the  opening  of  the  College  year;  and  his  place 
was  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Ebenezer  Fitch  (Yale 
1777).  Tutor  Chauncey  Goodrich  (Yale  1776)  also 
resigned,  in  February,  1781,  and  was  succeeded  by  Josiah 
Meigs  (Yale  1778).  Provision  was  made  for  an  addi- 
tional (fourth)  tutor  by  the  election  of  Elizur  Goodrich 
(Yale  1779)  at  Commencement,  1781. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Corporation  in  April,  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  on  General 
Washington. 


1 76  Yale  College 


Sketches,   Class  of  1781 


* Jason  Atwater,  A.M.  *i?94 
*Simeon  Baldwin,  A.M.,  Tutor,  e  Congr.,   Reip. 

Conn.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  *l&51 

*Daniel  Boardman,  A.M.  et  Neo-Caes.  ^833 

*Simeon  Breed,  A.M.  *i822 

*  Jonathan  Burrall  *i8o5 
*Henricus  Channing,  A.M.,  Tutor  *i84O 
*Daniel  Farrand,  Reip.  Viridim.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  *i825 
*Elihu  Gridley  *i822 
*Samuel  Hinckley,  A.M.  et  Harv.  1785  *i84O 
*Benjamin  Isaacs  *l&34 

*  Jacobus  Kent,  A.M.,  LL.D.  Columb.  1797  et  Harv. 

1810  et  Dartm.   1819  et  Univ.  Penns.   1819,  in 
Coll.  Columb.  Jurisprud.  Prof.,  Reip.  Nov.  Ebor. 

Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  Princ.  et  Cancell.  "1847 

*Timotheus  Langdon,  A.M.  1786  *i8oi 

* Jonathan  Miller,  A.M.  1792  *i83i 

*Samuel  Newell  "1798 

*Guilielmus  Noyes,  A.M.  *i834 

*Reiiben  Parmele,  A.M.  1787  *i843 

*Enochus  Perkins,  A.M.,  Tutor  *i828 
*Samuel  Dunbar  Searle 

*Israel  Smith,  e  Congr.,  Rerumpubl.  Foed.  Sen., 
Reip.  Virid.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  Princ.  et  Guber- 

nator  *i8io 

*Sethus  Samuel  Smith,  1782,  et  A.M.  1796  "1809 

*Stepkanus  Williams  Stebbins,  A.M.  *J843 

*Daniel  Tomlinson,  A.M.  *i842 

*Sylvester  Wells,  M.D.  1816,  Socius  ex  officio  *i837 

*  Johannes  Williams,  A.M.  1785  et  Harv.  1785  "1840 

*Josephus  Lucius  Wooster  *179& 

*Nathan  Wooster,  A.M.  "1796 

*Elizur  Wright,  A.M.  "1845 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  177 

JASON  ATWATER,  the  fourth  son  and  eighth  child  of 
Captain  Jacob  Atwater,  of  Hamden,  Connecticut,  and  a 
brother  of  the  Rev.  Noah  Atwater  (Yale  1774),  was  born 
in  Hamden  on  May  5,  1759. 

He  studied  theology  at  the  College,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  New  Haven  Association  of  Ministers  on 
September  24,  1782. 

A  year  later  the  same  Association  advised  the  vacant 
church  in  Branford,  Connecticut,  to  apply  to  Mr.  Atwater, 
and  after  due  apprenticeship  he  received  a  call  to  the  pas- 
torate by  a  small  majority. 

The  New  Haven  County  Consociation  convened  to 
attend  his  ordination  on  February  18,  1784,  but  the  oppo- 
sition was  so  considerable  that  action  was  deferred.  The 
result  was  that  an  Episcopal  Society  was  formed  by  the 
disaffected,  and  Mr.  Atwater's  ordination  was  allowed  to 
proceed  on  March  10. 

On  December  7,  1784,  he  was  married  by  her  father 
to  Anne,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Warham  Williams  (Yale 
1745),  of  Northford  Society,  in  North  Branford. 

He  broke  down  early  with  consumption ;  and  after  more 
than  a  year  of  feebleness  and  intermitted  labor,  he  died  in 
Branford,  on  June  10,  1794,  having  just  entered  on  his 
36th  year.  His  was  the  first  death  in  the  Class. 

He  had  one  daughter,  and  his  widow  next  married  (on 
June  15,  1796)  his  successor  in  office,  the  Rev.  Lynde 
Huntington  (Yale  1788),  and  thirdly  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Barker  (Yale  1771),  of  Middleborough,  Massachusetts, 
a  native  of  Branford. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Atwater  History  and  Genealogy-,  Hist.  Society  Papers,  iv,  325-27. 
132,  178.  Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Mar-  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  112, 
riages,  v,  17.  New  Haven  Colony  116,  495,  502,  525. 


12 


i78  Yale  College 

SIMEON  BALDWIN,  the  youngest  among  seven  children 
of  Captain  Ebenezer  Baldwin,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  Norwich  on  December  14,  1761. 

He  went,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  to  reside  with  his 
brother  Ebenezer  (Yale  1763),  then  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Danbury,  Connecticut,  and  to  be 
under  his  tuition;  and  he  so  continued  until  his  brother's 
lamented  death,  in  October,  1776,  after  two  months'  ser- 
vice as  a  Chaplain  in  the  Revolutionary  army.  He  then 
completed  his  preparatory  studies,  partly  at  Coventry, 
Connecticut,  with  the  Rev.  Joseph  Huntington  (Yale 
1762),  and  partly  at  Master  Tisdale's  school  in  Lebanon. 

During  the  year  after  graduation  he  taught  in  New 
Haven,  and  also  began  the  study  of  the  law  with  Judge 
Charles  Chauncey,  while  enrolled  as  a  resident  graduate 
at  the  College.  The  manuscript  of  the  Latin  oration 
which  he  delivered  at  the  inauguration  of  Professor  Wales 
in  June,  1782,  is  preserved  in  the  College  Library. 

In  August,  1782,  he  went  to  Albany,  New  York,  as 
Senior  Preceptor  of  the  Academy  which  had  been  founded 
there  in  1780;  but  returned  to  Yale  as  a  Tutor  in  October, 
1783,  and  resumed  his  law-studies  with  Judge  Chauncey. 
The  tutorial  office  he  filled  with  fidelity  and  ability  until 
his  resignation  in  September,  1786,  when  he  began  prac- 
tice in  New  Haven,  having  already  been  admitted  to  the 
bar  on  January  5. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1789  he  was  elected  City  Clerk, 
and  held  that  office  until  June,  1800,  when  he  declined 
further  re-election. 

In  the  spring  of  1790  he  was  appointed,  by  Judge 
Richard  Law  (Yale  1751),  Clerk  of  the  District  and  Cir- 
cuit Courts  of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of  Con- 
necticut, and  continued  to  perform  the  duties  of  that  office, 
in  connection  with  an  extensive  professional  practice  in 
the  State  Courts,  until  the  fall  of  '1803,  when  he  was 
elected  a  Representative  in  the  eighth  United  States  Con- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  179 

gress.  He  attended  the  two  sessions  of  that  Congress, 
which  expired  in  March,  1805,  when  he  declined  a  re-elec- 
tion, resumed  his  practice  at  the  bar,  and  was  re-appointed 
by  Judge  Law  Clerk  of  the  United  States  Courts.  In  1806 
he  was  removed  from  this  office  by  Judge  Law's  successor, 
and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  by  the 
Legislature  an  Associate  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  and 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Errors.  In  that  office  he  was 
continued  by  annual  appointment  until  May,  1817,  when 
the  Federal  party  was  losing  power  in  the  State.  He 
then  returned  to  his  legal  practice  for  a  short  time,  until 
his  son  became  established. 

In  1820  he  was  appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  one 
of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Farmington  Canal,  and  was 
made  President  of  that  Board. 

In  1826  (having  already  served  as  Councilman  in  1798 
and  1799,  and  as  Alderman  from  1800  to  1816,  and  in 
1823  and  1825)  he  was  chosen  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New 
Haven,  and  served  for  one  year. 

In  1830,  in  his  7Oth  year,  having  seen  the  Canal  located 
and  completed  to  Northampton,  he  resigned  his  position 
as  Commissioner,  and  after  that  time  held  no  public  office. 
The  practice  of  his  profession,  however,  as  counsellor, 
chiefly  at  his  own  house,  he  pursued  until  near  the  end  of 
his  life. 

After  a  brief  illness  he  died  in  New  Haven,  on  May  26, 
1851,  in  his  9Oth  year,  being  the  last  survivor  of  his  Col- 
lege Class. 

Judge  Baldwin  married,  on  July  29,  1787,  Rebecca,  the 
eldest  child  of  the  Hon.  Roger  and  Rebecca  (Prescott) 
Sherman,  of  New  Haven,  who  died  in  New  Haven  on 
September  4,  1795,  in  her  32d  year. 

He  next  married,  in  New  Haven,  on  April  22,  1800, 
Elizabeth,  the  next  younger  sister  of  his  first  wife,  and 
widow  of  Sturges  Burr,  of  New  York  City  and  Fairfield, 
Connecticut  (who  died  in  1796).  She  died  in  New  Haven 
on  July  1 6,  1850,  aged  85  years. 


180  Yale  College 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  two  sons  (Yale  1808  and 
1811)  and  two  daughters.  By  his  second  marriage  he 
had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

A  discriminating  sketch  of  Judge  Baldwin's  life  and 
character  is  given  in  the  Address  at  his  Funeral,  by  his 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  W.  S.  Button,  which  was 
published.  Dr.  Dutton  says,  in  part: — 

The  intellectual  and  moral  qualities  of  Judge  Baldwin  were  such 
as  eminently  fitted  him  for  the  duties  of  the  high  judicial  office, 
which  he  held  for  eleven  years  in  the  maturity  of  his  life;  and  also 
to  attract,  as  he  did,  the  universal  respect  and  confidence  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  and  the  admiration  and  love  of  all  his  familiar 
friends.  .  .  All  his  acquaintances  will  agree  that  a  more  fair- 
minded  man  they  never  knew.  .  .  His  kindness  of  heart,  his  con- 
siderate and  delicate  regard  for  the  feelings  of  others,  his  frankness 
and  openness  of  character,  his  large  acquaintance  with  distinguished 
men  and  cultivated  society,  and  his  easy  manners  and  affable  con- 
versation, made  him  remarkable  for  his  courtesy.  He  was  a  true 
Christian  gentleman. 

He  published : 

An  Oration  pronounced  before  the  Citizens  of  New-Haven,  July 
4th,  1788 ;  in  commemoration  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  establishment  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  New-Haven,  1788.  8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     Y.  C. 

His  grandson,  Judge  Simeon  E.  Baldwin  (Yale  1861),  published 
in  1888,  in  volume  4  of  the  Papers  of  the  New  Haven  Colony  His- 
torical Society,  under  the  title  of  A  Young  Man's  Journal  of  a 
Hundred  Years  ago,  extracts  from  his  diaries  in  1782-85,  with 
annotations  (pp.  193-208). 

An  interesting  account  of  the  early  life  of  his  classmate,  Chan- 
cellor Kent,  written  in  1848,  was  published  in  Kent's  Memoir 
(pp.  9-18)  in 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Quarterly  Register,  xiv,  386.  lution,  347.  New  Haven  Annual  City 
Baldwin  Genealogy,  i,  273,  278.  Bon-  Reports,  1863,  94-96.  Prescott  Me- 
tell,  Life  of  R;.  Sherman,  226,  350.  morial,  89-90.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
Hillard,  Memoir  of  Jeremiah  Mason,  Diary,  iii,  29,  93,  97,  239,  321,  449, 
15,  17.  Johnston,  Yale  in  the  Revo-  546. 


Biographical  Sketches,  ij8i  181 

DANIEL  BOARDMAN,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  Sher- 
man Boardman,  of  New  Milford,  Connecticut,  and  grand- 
son of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Boardman  (Yale  1709),  of  New 
Milford,  was  born  in  that  town  on  March  4,  1757.  His 
mother  was  Sarah,  eldest  daughter  of  Captain  Nathaniel 
and  Esther  (Hitchcock)  Bostwick,  of  New  Milford. 

He  aided  his  father  in  the  labors  of  the  farm,  until  the 
year  1776,  when  at  his  earnest  request  he  was  put  under 
the  instruction  of  his  uncle  by  marriage,  the  Rev.  Daniel 
Farrand,  of  Canaan,  Connecticut,  and  by  great  diligence 
was  prepared  to  enter  College  in  1777. 

In  the  spring  of  1782  he  entered  into  partnership  with 
his  brother  Elijah,  who  was  a  prosperous  retail  merchant 
in  their  native  town.  This  partnership  continued  until 
the  spring  of  1793,  and  for  the  next  two  years  he  kept  a 
separate  store  in  New  Milford;  but  he  subsequently 
entered  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Henry  Hunt,  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  who  was  engaged  in  the  wholesale  dry 
goods  business;  and  he  was  thus  led  to  remove  to  that 
city  (by  1796),  where  he  resided  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

While  in  New  Milford  he  twice  represented  the  town  in 
the  General  Assembly  (in  May,  1790,  and  October,  1792). 
He  also  attained  the  rank  of  Major  in  the  Militia. 

After  his  removal  to  New  York  he  was  extensively  con- 
cerned in  new  lands,  particularly  in  the  South-Western 
States;  and  he  was,  for  a  considerable  length  of  time, 
employed  at  Washington,  before  a  Board  of  United  States 
Commissioners  appointed  to  adjust  the  conflicting  claims 
of  purchasers  of  lands  sold  by  the  State  of  Georgia.  His 
real  estate  in  the  city  of  New  York  was  also  very  con- 
siderable, and  his  entire  property  very  large.  His  repu- 
tation was  not  that  of  a  very  generous  man. 

He  died  in  New  York  on  November  3,  1833,  in  his  77th 
year.  ,  • 

He  was  a  large  man,  of  strong  frame,  with  a  dignified 
personal  appearance  and  rather  distant  and  formal  man- 


1 82  Yale  College 

ners.  For  a  number  of  years  before  his  death  he  was  an 
Elder  in  the  First  (or  Wall  Street)  Presbyterian  Church. 
A  fine  full-length  portrait  by  Ralph  Earle  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  family. 

He  married,  on  November  4,  1797,  Hetty  Moore,  of 
New  York  City. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  three  sons.  Of 
the  sons  who  lived  to  grow  up,  one  was  graduated  here  in 
1823,  and  the  other  in  1829. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Boardman  Genealogy,  275,  331-32.       656.    Schroeder,  Memoir  of  Mrs.  M. 
Orcutt,  Hist,  of  New  Milford,  571-72,       A.  Boardman,  394,  397. 


SIMEON  BREED,  the  ninth  in  a  family  of  ten  children  of 
Gershom  Breed,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  was  born  in 
Norwich  on  July  17,  1763.  Two  of  his  brothers  were 
graduated  here,  in  1768  and  1778  respectively.  Another 
brother,  Jesse,  next  older  than  himself,  entered  College 
with  him,  but  took  a  dismission  at  the  opening  of  the 
Junior  year  on  account  of  lack  of  funds. 

After  graduation  he  was  a  partner  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness with  his  brother  Jesse,  and  also  President  of  a  bank 
in  Norwich,  where  he  died,  unmarried,  on  August  22, 
1822,  in  his  6oth  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Breed    Family,    no.    185.       Dwight       erary  Diary,  ii,  384. 
Genealogy,  ii,  mo.     Pres.  Stiles,  Lit- 


JONATHAN  BURRALL,  the  third  son  of  Colonel  Charles 
Burrall,  of  Canaan,  Connecticut,  and  a  brother  of  William 
Burrall  (Yale  1771),  was  born  in  Canaan  on  August  12, 

1759- 

After  graduation  he  settled  in  his  native  town,  becoming 
a  merchant,  and  being  subsequently  engaged  in  the  manu- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  183 

facture  of  iron.  He  represented  Canaan  in  the  General 
Assembly  at  ten  sessions  between  1795  and  1804,  and  was 
prominent  in  town  affairs,  v. 

He  died  of  consumption  in  Canaan,  on  February  26, 
1805,  in  his  46th  year. 

He  was  a  man  of  very  pleasant  manners,  modest  and 
unassuming,  but  firm  and  intrepid  in  danger. 

He  first  married  Charlotte,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Davies  (Yale  1758),  of  New  Milford,  Connect- 
icut, by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  one  of  whom  was  grad- 
uated at  Yale  in  1803,  and  the  other  died  at  sea  in  youth. 

He  next  married,  on  February  5,  1792,  Esther  (or 
Hetty),  the  fourth  child  of  Sherman  Boardman,  of  New 
Milford,  and  only  sister  of  his  classmate. 

She  survived  him,  and  next  married,  on  May  15,  1810, 
Matthew  Marvin  (Yale  1785),  of  Wilton,  Connecticut, 
where  she  died  on  October  25,  1851,  in  her  9Oth  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,       21.      Schroeder,  Life  of  Mrs.  M.  A. 
121.    Boardman  Genealogy,  275.    Hin-       Boardman,  394,  405. 
man,  Genealogy  of  the  Puritans,  420- 


HENRY  [TREVETT]  CHANNING,  son  of  John  Channing, 
a  merchant  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  was  born  about 
1760.  His  mother  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Ninian  Chal- 
oner,  of  Newport,  and  previously  wife  of  James  Robinson. 
His  father  died  in  1771. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Stiles  was  his  pastor,  and  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  family;  and  after  Dr.  Stiles's  accession  to 
the  presidency  of  Yale,  he  was  sent  here,  being  admitted 
as  Junior  in  October,  1779.  An  elder  brother,  the  father 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Ellery  Channing,  had  been  grad- 
uated at  Princeton  College  in  1769. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  Junior  year,  in  July,  1780,  he 
joined  the  College  Church,  and  after  graduation  he 
remained  at  the  College  as  a  student  of  divinity.  He  was 


184  Yale  College 

licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  Association  on  Sep- 
tember 24,  1782. 

He  entered  on  a  Tutorship  in  the  College  in  November, 
1783,  and  remained  in  office  until  September,  1786. 

About  the  year  1787  he  fully  discarded  his  middle  name, 
which  he  had  previously  used  but  infrequently. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1786  he  began  to  preach  in  the 
Congregational  Church  in  New  London,  Connecticut,  then 
in  a  feeble  and  broken  condition;  and  in  February,  1787, 
he  received  a  unanimous  call'  to  settle  there,  on  a  salary  of 
£140.  He  accepted  the  call  in  March,  and  was  ordained 
on  May  17,  1787,  President  Stiles  preaching  the  sermon, 
which  was  subsequently  published.  The  church  then  con- 
sisted of  twelve  male  and  forty-seven  female  members. 

A  revival  of  religion  began  with  his  ministry,  and  con- 
tinued for  nearly  two  years,  during  which  time  eighty 
persons  were  received  to  the  communion  of  the  church. 

Though  no  public  suspicion  existed  of  Mr.  Channing's 
being  a  Unitarian  for  several  years,  circumstances  have 
since  seemed  to  render  it  probable  that  his  mind  was  at 
least  moving  in  that  direction,  even  from  the  beginning 
of  his  ministry.  (President  Stiles  quotes  him  among  other 
adherents  of  the  New  Divinity  in  1791  as  doubting  or 
denying  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son.)  In  October, 
1805,  while  acting  as  moderator  of  a  council  for  the  dis- 
mission of  the  Rev.  John  Sherman  at  Mansfield,  Connect- 
icut, who  had  become  a  Unitarian,  he  espoused  Mr.  Sher- 
man's cause  .so  strongly  as  to  call  for  the  censure  of  the 
council. 

.  On  February  21,  1806,  he  sent  a  letter  to  the  Commit- 
tee of  his  Society,  asking  for  a  dismission,  on  the  ground 
of  insufficient  support  and  the  inefficiency  of  his  public 
labors  to  counteract  the  declining  state  of  religion  and 
morals. 

The  communication  was  unexpected,  but  it  is  probable 
that  Mr.  Channing's  known  change  of  views  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Trinity  would  soon  have  produced  such  a  result. 


*^ 

UNIVERSITY 

or 
^ 

Biographical  Sketches,  1781  185 

He  was  dismissed  by  a  council  on  May  20,  1806,  and  left 
New  London  almost  immediately.  In  January,  1808,  he 
was  called  to  the  Congregational  Church  in  Canandaigua, 
New  York,  and  having  accepted  the  call  entered  on  the 
duties  of  the  office  (without  formal  installation)  in  the  fol- 
lowing June.  Here  he  continued  until  May,  1811,  when 
he  resigned  his  charge.  His  preaching  during  this  period 
was  never  recognized  as  distinctly  Unitarian,  though 
undoubtedly  such  was  his  belief. 

After  residing  for  a  time  in  Newport,  he  returned  to 
New  London  in  1817,  and  was  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  Connecticut  for  two  sessions  (October, 
1817,  and  May,  1818),  being  a  vigorous  supporter  of  the 
so-called  Toleration  Ticket,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
break  down  the  ancient  supremacy  of  the  Standing  Order 
in  Church  and  State.  He  was  also  charged  by  some  with 
instigating  legislation  distinctly  intended  to  annoy  his 
former  ministerial  brethren. 

A  few  years  later  he  removed  to  New  York,  where  he 
made  his  home  with  one  of  his  sons  who  was  a  practising 
physician  in  the  city.  He  died  in  New  York,  of  apoplexy, 
on  August  27,  1840,  in  his  8ist  year,  and  was  taken  to 
Newport  for  burial. 

He  married,  on  September  25,  1787,  Sally,  third  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Anne  (Lord)  McCurdy,  of  Lyme,  Con- 
necticut, who  died  on  September  6,  1798,  aged  36  years. 

Four  of  their  nine  children  died  in  infancy;  the  eldest 
of  the  others  (all  sons)  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1807. 

He  published: 

i.  God  admonishing  his  People  of  their  Duty,  as  Parents  and 
Masters. — A  Sermon  [from  Jer.  vi,  8],  preached  at  New-London, 
December  2Oth,  1786.  Occasioned  by  the  Execution  of  Hannah 
Ocuish,  a  Mulatto  Girl,  aged  12  Years  and  9  Months.  For  the 
Murder  of  Eunice  Bolles,  aged  6  Years  and  6  Months.  New- 
London,  1786.  8°,  pp.  31. 

[A.  A.  S.    M.  H.  S.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

A  second  edition  was  printed  the  next  year. 


1 86  Yale  College 

2.  A  Sermon  [from  John  xviii,  n],  delivered  at  Hartford,  at  the 
Funeral  of  Mrs.  Anna  Strong,  Consort  of  the  Reverend  Nathan 
Strong,  and  Daughter  of  the  late  Mr.  John  McCurdy,  of  Lyme. 
She  died  March  22,  1789,  aetat.  30.     Hartford,  1789.    8°,  pp.  15. 

[Brown  Univ.     N.   Y.  Publ.  Libr.     Y.  C. 

Mrs.  Strong  was  an  elder  sister  of  Mrs.  Channing. 

3.  The  Consideration  of  divine  Goodness  an  argument  for  reli- 
gious gratitude  and  obedience. — A  Sermon  [from  I  Sam.  xii,  24], 
Delivered  at   New-London,   November  27,    1794.     Being  the  day 
appointed  by  Authority,  for  public  Thanksgiving  in  the  State  of 
Connecticut.     New-London,  1794.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.C.A.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

4.  A  Discourse  [from  Phil,  ii,  4]   Delivered  in  New-London,  at 
the  Request  of  Union  Lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,;    on 
the  Anniversary  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  June  30,   1796.     New- 
London,  1796.    8°,  pp.  27.  [Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

/.    Q.    Adams,    Memoirs,    ix,    265.  Genealogies,  i,  75-85.     S  Prague,  An- 

Blake,  Later  Hist,  of  First  Church,  nals  of  the  Amer.   Pulpit,  viii,  361. 

N.  London,  207-12,  229,  231-97.    Caul-  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  378, 

kins,  Hist,  of  New  London,  588-90.  441 ;  iii,  28,  93,  97,  217,  239,  256,  258, 

Hillard,  Memoir  of  Jeremiah  Mason,  263-65,  274,  278,  419,  505. 
8-10.    Salisbury,  Family  Histories  and 


DANIEL  FARRAND,  son  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Farrand 
(Princeton  College  1750),  of  (South)  Canaan,  Connect- 
icut, was  born  in  that  town  about  1760.  His  mother  was 
Jerusha,  the  youngest  child  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Boardman 
(Yale  1709),  of  New  Milford,  Connecticut,  and  he  was 
thus  a  first  cousin  of  his  classmate  Boardman.  He  entered 
College  in  June,  1778,  towards  the  end  of  the  Freshman 
year,  having  been  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins, 
of  Norfolk. 

He  studied  law  and  settled  in  Windsor,  Vermont. 

He  served  as  a  Representative  in  the  General  Assembly 
in  1792,  1796,  and  1798,  from  Newbury,  in  Orange 
County,  and  was  Speaker  of  the  House  in  1798. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  187 

t 

Later  he  removed  to  Burlington,  in  the  same  State, 
where  he  served  as  Selectman  of  the  town  in  1809,  1810, 
1812,  1813,  and  1816. 

He  was  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  in 
1813-14. 

He  died  in  Burlington  on  October  13,  1825,  aged  65 
years.  His  estate  was  inventoried  at  $3139.  He  had  lost 
his  eyesight  before  his  death. 

He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Colonel  Asa  Porter 
(Harvard  Coll.  1762),  of  Haverhill,  New  Hampshire,  by 
whom  he  had  nine  daughters,  six  of  whom  survived  him. 
She  died  in  Burlington  on  March  24,  1812,  aged  38  years. 

He  is  remembered  as  a  man  of  learning,  wit,  and  talent. 
In  Burlington  he  was  one  of  the  early  leaders  in  the  Uni- 
tarian Church. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Boardman   Genealogy,  276.      Pro-       Schroeder,  Life  of  Mrs.  M.  A.  Board- 
fessor  J.  E.  Goodrich,  MS.  Letters,       man,     391.      Pres.     Stiles,    Literary 
July,  1905.    Hemenway,  Vermont  His-       Diary,  ii,  276. 
torical    Gazetteer,    i,    498,    539,    543. 


ELIHU  GRIDLEY,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  Hezekiah 
Gridley,  and  grandson  of  Hezekiah  and  Sarah  (Newell) 
Gridley,  was  born  on  November  6,  1755,  in  that  part  of 
Farmington,  Connecticut,  which  is  now  Bristol.  His 
mother  was  Abigail,  daughter  of  Zebulon  and  Mary 
(Edwards)  Peck. 

He  settled  soon  after  graduation  in  Kinderhook,  Colum- 
bia County,  New  York,  as  a  lawyer. 

He  died  in  the  township  of  Richland,  Oswego  County, 
New  York,  on  October  4,  1822,  aged  nearly  67  years. 

One  of  his  sons  became  a  clergyman. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Putnam's  Hist.  Magazine,  iv,  48. 


1 88  Yale  College 

» 

SAMUEL  HINCKLEY,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  Samuel 
Hinckley,  a  trader  and  farmer  of  North  Brookfield, 
Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Job  and  Sarah  (Tufts) 
Hinckley,  of  Haverhill  and  Brookfield,  was  born  in  North 
Brookfield  on  December  22,  1757.  His  mother  was  Abi- 
gail Walcott,  of  Charlestown,  Massachusetts.  He  was 
prepared  for  College  partly  at  Dummer  Academy,  and 
partly  by  Fisher.  Ames,  who  had  just  graduated  from 
Harvard. 

He  enlisted  in  the  army  in  1776,  and  was  wounded  at 
the  battle  of  White  Plains  in  October  of  that  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  Caleb 
Strong  (Harvard  1764),  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  that  town  in  1784.  He 
was  a  steady,  methodical  practitioner  in  Northampton, 
and  was  also  Register  of  Probate  from  1786  to  1815,  and 
Judge  of  the  Probate  Court  from  1818  to  1835.  His  polit- 
ical sympathies  in  early  life  were  with  the  Federalists. 

He  married,  on  June  8,  1786,  Dorothy,  the  eleventh 
child  and  youngest  surviving  daughter  of  Lieutenant 
Caleb  and  Phebe  (Lyman)  Strong,  and  sister  of  his  law- 
preceptor.  She  died  on  August  26,  1802,  in  her  44th  year; 
and  he  next  married,  on  June  19,  1809,  Martha,  daughter 
of  John  Prince,  of  Medford,  Massachusetts. 

His  children  (by  his  first  wife)  were  four  daughters 
and  two  sons.  The  elder  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1810;  and  the  eldest  daughter  (the  only  daughter  who 
survived  infancy,  and  the  only  child  who  married)  was 
the  wife  of  Jonathan  Huntington  Lyman  (Yale  1802). 

He  died  in  Northampton  on  June  15,  1840,  aged  82^ 
years,  and  leaving  a  very  large  estate. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bridgman,  Northampton  Epitaphs,        1162,  1202.      Temple,  Hist,  of  North 
78-79.     Dwight,   Strong  Genealogy,  ii,       Brookfield,  628. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  189 

BENJAMIN  ISAACS,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Captain 
Benjamin  Isaacs,  of  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  and  a  nephew 
of  Isaac  Isaacs  (Yale  1750)  and  Ralph  Isaacs  (Yale 
1761),  was  born  in  Norwalk  in  December,  1764.  His 
mother  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Elizabeth  (St. 
John)  Scudder,  of  Norwalk. 

He  was  still  living  in  Norwalk  in  1789,  but  later  settled 
in  Bedford,  New  York,  as  a  merchant,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  New  York  Assembly  from  Westchester  County  in 
four  sessions  (1807,  1814-16,  and  1818). 

He  died  in  Bedford,  on  December  5,  1834,  at  the  age 
of  70. 

He  is  said  to  have  married  Sarah  Hawley,  of  Bedford, 
who  was  a  notable  housewife.  They  left  no  children. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight  Family,  i,  169-70.    Selleck,       Paul's  Church,  Norwalk,  38,86;  Nor- 
Address    at    the    Centenary    of    St.       walk,  i,  331. 


JAMES  KENT,  the  eldest  child  of  Moss  Kent  (Yale 
1752),  was  born  in  the  Precinct  of  Frederickstown,  in  the 
present  hamlet  of  Doanesburg,  Southeast  township,  Put- 
nam County,  New  York,  on  July  31,  1763.  In  1768  he 
was  taken  into  the  family  of  his  grandfather,  Dr.  Uriah 
Rogers,  of  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  and  his  preparation  for 
College  was  mainly  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Bald- 
win (Yale  1763),  in  Danbury,  Connecticut.  An  inter- 
esting sketch  of  these  and  the  succeeding  years,  by  his 
classmate  Baldwin,  is  published  (pp.  9-18)  in  the  Memoirs 
of  Chancellor  Kent  by  his  great-grandson. 

On  graduation  he  entered  immediately  the  law-office  of 
the  Hon.  Egbert  Benson  (Columbia  College  1765),  in 
Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
January,  1785. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  become  attached  to  a  daughter 
of  the  house  where  he  boarded;  and  on  April  3,  1785,  he 


190 

married  Elizabeth  (or  Betsey),  the  second  daughter  of 
Colonel  John  Bailey,  of  Poughkeepsie. 

In  the  same  month  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Gil- 
bert Livingston  in  Poughkeepsie,  with  whom  he  practiced 
until  his  removal  to  New  York  City  in  April,  1793.  He 
was  a  Federalist  Member  of  the  fourteenth  and  sixteenth 
sessions  of  the  New  York  Assembly  (1791,  and  1792-93) 
from  Duchess  County,  and  of  the  twentieth  session  (1796- 
97)  after  his  removal  to  New  York;  but  was  defeated  as 
a  candidate  for  Congress  in  1793. 

In  December,  1793,  a  Professorship  of  Law  was  estab- 
lished in  Columbia  College,  with  a  salary  of  £200,  and  in 
the  same  month*  Mr.  Kent  was  elected  to  the  new  chair, 
having  gained  a  reputation  for  scholarship  by  his  con- 
tributions to  the  public  press  and  the  leadership  of  his  party 
in  the  Assembly.  His  first  course  of  lectures  began  in 
November,  1794,  and  served  to  quicken  an  interest  in  the 
science  of  jurisprudence,  as  well  as  to  increase  the  author's 
private  practice.  In  succeeding  years  the  number  of  stu- 
dents dwindled,  so  that  he  resigned  his  office  in  April, 
1798.  He  was  given  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws  by  the  College  in  May,  1797;  the  same  degree  was 
conferred  by  Harvard  University  in  1810,  and  by  Dart- 
mouth and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1819. 

In  February,  1796,  he  received  through  Governor  Jay 
the  unsolicited  appointment  to  the  lucrative  office  of  Mas- 
ter in  Chancery;  and  in  March,  1797,  Governor  Jay  gave 
him  the  position  of  Recorder,  a  minor  judicial  office  of 
the  City,  which  he  held  in  connection  with  the  Mastership. 

He  laid  down  both  offices  in  February,  1798,  when  he 
was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State, 
a  position  which  had  been  the  object  of  his  ambition  for 
several  years.  Being  no  longer  obliged  to  live  in  New 
York,  he  re-established  his  residence  in  Poughkeepsie  in 
April,  1798.  He  soon  discovered,  however,  that  Albany 
would  be  a  much  more  convenient  location,  and  he  removed 
thither  in  1799. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  191 

After  six  years  of  service  as  Associate  Justice,  he  was 
advanced  to  the  postion  of  Chief  Justice  in  July,  1804,  to 
fill  a  vacancy  due  to  the  election  of  the  former  Chief  Jus- 
tice as  Governor. 

He  enjoyed  greatly  this  experience,  until  in  February, 
1814,  to  his  regret  he  was  transferred  to  the  Court  of 
Chancery  and  appointed  Chancellor.  By  his  labors  he 
distinctly  raised  the  standard  of  this  office,  but  when  a 
convention  was  called  in  1821  for  the  framing  of  a  new 
constitution  for  the  State,  and  he  attended  the  sessions  as 
a  member,  his  Federalist  principles  led  him  to  oppose 
many  of  the  conclusions  of  the  majority,  and  so  made  him 
obnoxious  to  the  party  in  control  of  legislation. 

Two  years  later,  in  July  1823,  he  was  retired  from  office 
by  the  terms  of  the  new  constitution  (a  requirement  after- 
wards repealed),  on  arriving  at  the  age  of  sixty,  and  he 
then  removed  to  New  York  City  to  resume  practice  as 
chamber  counsel.  He  was  immediately  tendered  his  for- 
mer office  as  Professor  of  Law,  which  had  lain  dormant 
since  his  resignation.  He  accepted  the  professorship  and 
held  it  until  his  death ;  but  after  he  had  completed  his  first 
series  of  lectures  (in  the  spring  of  1826),  the  idea  was 
suggested  to  him  of  allowing  them  to  appear  in  printed 
form.  At  the  age  of  63  he  set  himself  to  the  task  of 
amplifying  the  material  in  hand,  and  with  such  diligence 
that  the  four  volumes  of  his  Commentaries  on  American 
Law,  one  of  the  foundation-stones  of  American  juris- 
prudence, saw  the  light  in  less  than  four  years'  time. 

Thus  his  removal  from  the  bench,  which  had  been 
accepted  as  an  unwelcome  degradation,  proved  in  the  end 
to  open  the  way  to  greater  distinction  than  could  have 
been  attained  by  any  other  means. 

His  later  years  were  spent  in  comparative  leisure,  and 
in  the  enjoyment  of  well-merited  public  fame,  until  his 
death,  in  New  York  City  on  December  12,  1847,  m  n^s 
85th  year.  For  several  months  previous  he  had  suffered 
severely  from  the  effects  of  disease. 


192  Yale  College 

His  wife  died  in  New  York  on  June  19,  1851,  in  her 
83d  year. 

His  eldest  child,  a  daughter,  died  in  infancy;  and  two 
married  daughters  and  a  son  (Union  College  1820)  sur- 
vived him. 

A  Discourse  pronounced  before  the  Bar  of  New  York 
in  his  memory,  in  April,  1848,  by  Judge  John  Duer  was 
afterwards  published. 

In  1898  a  volume  of  Memoirs  by  a  great-grandson 
appeared,  giving  an  interesting  summary  of  his  life. 

Several  portraits  of  Chancellor  Kent  were  painted  and 
have  often  been  reproduced;  one  portrait  by  Rembrandt 
Peale  in  1843  appears  in  the  Memoirs.  One  painted  by 
John  W.  Jarvis  is  owned  by  Yale. 

He  published : 

1.  An    introductory    Lecture    to    a    Course    of    Law    Lectures, 
delivered  November  17,  1794.     New-York,  1794.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

2.  Dissertations :  being  the  Preliminary  Part  of  a  Course  of  Law 
Lectures.    New- York,  1795.    8°,  pp.  87. 

[B.  Ath.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S. 

This  contains  the  first  three  lectures.    A  summary  of  the  subjects 
of  the  whole  Course  (37  lectures)  is  added. 

3.  The  Opinions  of  Mr.  Justice  Kent,  and  Mr.  Justice  Radcliffe, 
on  The  Question  of  Blockade,  in  the  cause  of  Andrew  Voss  and 
John  Boonen  Graves,  vs.  The  United  Insurance  Company,  in  the 
City  of  New-York.    Albany.     [1801.]    8°,  pp.  8.        [N.  Y.  H.  S. 

Judge  Kent's  opinion  covers  pp.  3-5. 

4.  A   Lecture,   introductory  to   a   Course   of   Law   Lectures   in 
Columbia  College.     Delivered  February  2,  1824.     New- York,  1824. 
8°,  pp.  23.  [Columbia  Univ.    Y.  C. 

Published  without  the  author's  name. 

5.  Commentaries   on   American   Law.      New- York,    1826-30.     4 
vols.,  8°. 

[B.  Ath.     Brit.   Mus.     Brown   Univ.     Columbia   Univ.     Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  author  also  supervised  the  preparation  of  the  2d,  3d,  and 
4th  editions  of  his  Commentaries, — the  last  appearing  in  1841. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  193 

6.  An   Anniversary  Discourse,  delivered  before  the   New- York 
Historical  Society,  December  6,  1828.    New- York,  1829.    8°,  pp.  40. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.~  Y.  C. 

On  the  history  of  New  York  Colony  and  State;  delivered  after 
his  election  as  President  of  the  Society. 

7.  An  Address  delivered  at  New  Haven,  before  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society,  September  13,  1831.    New  Haven,  1831.    8°,  pp.48. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ. 
Columbia  Univ.    Harv.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

A  very  instructive  review  of  the  history  of  the  College,  with 
interesting  personal  reminiscences. 

8.  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Law  Association  of  the  City 
of  New- York,  October  2ist,  1836.     New- York,  1836.     8°,  pp.  39. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.     Columbia  Univ.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

A  practical  and  historical  Address,  largely  occupied  with  remi- 
niscences of  Alexander  Hamilton. 

9.  The  Charter  of  the  City  of  New- York,  with  Notes  thereon. 
Also  a  Treatise  on  the  Powers  and  Duties  of  the  Mayor,  Aldermen, 
and  Assistant  Aldermen,  and  the  Journal  of  the  City  Convention. — 
Prepared   at   the   Request   of   the   Common   Council.      New- York, 
1836.    8°,  pp.  vii,  371.  [B.  Publ.    Harv.    Y.  C. 

10.  Opinion,  on  the  Usury  Laws.     Albany,  1837.     8°,  pp.  12. 

[Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 

A  reprint  (pp.  7-12),  with  Introduction  (pp.  3-6),  from  the 
Reports  of  Decisions  in  the  State  Courts. 

11.  A  Course  of  Reading,  drawn  up  for  the  use  of  the  Members 
of  the   Mercantile   Library   Association.      New-York,    1840.      12°, 
pp.  69. 

[B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     N.   Y.  H.  S.     U.  S. 
Y.  C. 

An  interesting  letter  of  Memories  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  written 
in  1832,  is  printed  in  an  Appendix  to  his  Memoirs,  pp.  281-331. 

The  following  paper  appeared  in  volume  i  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  Society,  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture,  Arts  and  Manu- 
factures, in  the  State  of  New-York, — pp.  191-204: — 

Address  delivered  before  the  Society,  in  the  Assembly-Chamber, 
in  the  City-Hall  at  New- York,  the  evening  of  November  8,  1796. 
13 


ip4  Yale  College 

In  1800  he  and  Justice  Radcliffe  were  appointed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  New  York  to  revise  the  Statutes  of  the  State ;  and  in  1802 
they  published  their  edition,  in  2  volumes,  octavo. 

His  decisions  as  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  are  embodied  in 
16  volumes  of  the  Reports  of  that  Court.  His  decisions  as  Chan- 
cellor are  contained  in  7  Volumes. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Green  Bag,  vii,  153-65.     P.  Hone,  245-50.    Memorial  Biographies  of  the 

Diary,     ii,    331-33.       \W.    Johnson]  N.  E.  Historic  Genealogical  Society, 

Memoir  in  National  Portrait  Gallery,  i,  67-75.     N.   Y.   Geneal.  and  Biogr. 

1835,  vol.  2,  12  pp.     W.  Kent,  Mem-  Record,  iv,  1-7,  83-93.     G.  Ticknor, 

oirs  and  Letters  of  Chancellor  Kent.  Life,  Letters  and  Journals,  i,  338-41. 
Magazine  of  American  History,  xvii, 


TIMOTHY  LANGDON,  the  third  child  and  second  son  of 
Captain  John  Lankton,  of  New  Britain,  then  part  of  Far- 
mington,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  John  and  Sarah 
(Lee)  Lankton,  was  born  on  December  4,  1758.  His 
mother  was  Mercy,  daughter  of  David  and  Mary  (Gillet) 
Eno,  of  Simsbury,  Connecticut.  He  united  with  the  Col- 
lege Church  in  December  of  his  Senior  year,  and  during 
this  year  changed  the  spelling  of  his  name  from  Lankton 
to  Langdon. 

He  studied  divinity  with  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Smalley  (Yale  1756),  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Danbury,  Connecticut,  on 
August  31,  1786,  Dr.  Smalley  preaching  the  sermon.  The 
church  then  numbered  63  members,  and  44  were  added 
during  his  ministry. 

After  a  pastoral  service  of  over  fourteen  years  he  died 
in  office,  in  Danbury,  "of  a  long  and  tedious  consumption," 
on  February  10,  1801,  in  his  43d  year.  He  had  consump- 
tive symptoms  as  early  as  his  College  days,  and  had  been 
disabled  from  preaching  for  ten  months  before  his  death. 

He  married,  on  January  8,  1787,  Lucy,  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  John  Trumbull  (Yale  1735),  of  Watertown,  Con- 
necticut, who  died  of  a  quick  consumption  on  March  7, 
1794,  aged  35  years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  195 

He  next  married  (about  1798)  Elizabeth,  second  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Pitkin  (Yale  1747),  of  Farming- 
ton.  By  her  he  had  one  daughter. 

Two  sons  and  two  daughters  survived  him,  one  son 
being  a  graduate  of  this  College  in  1809. 

His  widow  married,  in  1805,  as  his  second  wife, 
Benajah  Starr,  of  Danbury,  by  whom  she  had  one  son. 
She  died  on  July  5,  1825,  three  days  after  her  husband, 
in  her  64th  year. 

He  published: 

A  Sermon  [from  Deut.  xxxii,  35-36],  preached  at  Danbury, 
November  8th,  A.  D.  1798,  Being  the  Day  of  the  Execution  of 
Anthony,  a  free  Negro,  Pursuant  to  sentence  of  Death  passed  upon 
him  by  the  Hon.  Superior  Court,  for  the  crime  of  a  Rape.  Dan- 
bury,  1798.  8°,  pp.  23.  [C.  H.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Andreivs,   New  Britain  Memorial,       27,  48.     T.  Robbins,  Diary,  i,  106, 125, 
80,  166-67.    Hough,  Hist.  Sketch  of       131.     Starr  Family,  372.    Pres.  Stiles, 
the  First  Congregational  Church  of       Literary  Diary,  ii,  489. 
Danbury,    11-12.      Pitkin    Genealogy, 


JONATHAN  MILLER,,  the  eldest  child  of  Deacon  Ebenezer 
Miller,  of  Torringford,  in  the  township  of  Torrington, 
Connecticut,  was  born  on  November  26,  1761.  His  mother 
was  Thankful,  fourth  child  of  Deacon  Jonathan  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Allen)  Allen,  of  Middletown,  Connecticut. 

He  studied  theology,  and  in  December,  1782,  was  invited 
to  preach  as  a  candidate  in  what  afterwards  became  the 
town  of  Burlington,  Connecticut.  Having  given  great 
satisfaction  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  in  May,  1783, 
on  a  salary  of  £80.  He  was  ordained  on  his  birthday, 
November  26,  1783,  as  the  first  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  26  members  which  had  been  gathered  in 
the  previous  July.  In  1785  this  Society,  called  West 
Britain  Society,  then  part  of  Farmington,  was  included  in 
the  new  township  of  Bristol,  and  in  1806  it  was  made  into 
the  distinct  township  of  Burlington. 


196  Yale   College 

Mr.  Miller  had  a  strong  intellect,  and  stood  high  in  the 
estimation  of  his  brethren  as  a  preacher  and  a  counsellor. 
His  labors  were  especially  effective  in  the  powerful  revi- 
vals in  his  vicinity  in  1798  and  1799. 

In  1821  his  mind  gave  way  from  overwork  and  expo- 
sure, and  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  was  incapable  from 
insanity  and  epilepsy  of  any  continuous  labor.  He  relin- 
quished his  salary  in  December,  1821,  and  a  colleague 
pastor  was  settled  in  January,  1823. 

He  died  in  office,  in  Burlington,  on  July  21,  1831,  in  his 
7oth  year. 

One  of  his  nearest  ministerial  neighbors,  the  Rev.  Cyrus 
Yale  (Williams  College  1811),  of  New  Hartford,  wrote 
of  him  in  1852: — 

Possessing  a  clear,  strong,  active  mind,  and. fond  of  study,  he  was 
a  discriminating  and  instructive  preacher,  and  held  a  prominent 
place  among  his  brethren.  The  overflowing  fountain  of  good  feel- 
ing in  his  soul,  seconded  always  by  the  utmost  sincerity  and  agree- 
able frankness  in  look  and  language,  more  than  compensated  for 
some  lack  of  refinement,  and  a  sort  of  noble  contempt  of  etiquette. 
If  his  composition  lacked  polish  and  embellishment,  it  had  the  more 
valuable  qualities  of  solid,  sterling  matter,  logically  arranged  and 
clearly  expressed.  .  .  He  had  the  appearance  of  genuine,  deep 
piety,  and  was  willing  to  labor  in  season  and  out  of  season  for  the 
salvation  of  souls  and  the  good  of  Christ's  kingdom. 

Mr.  Miller  was  of  medium  height  and  dark  complexion.  His 
large,  round,  fleshy  face  of  high  color;  his  short  neck  and  broad 
shoulders;  his  compact  and  corpulent  form,  joined  to  a  great  flow 
of  animal  spirits,  and  to  social  powers  of  high  order,  were  admir- 
ably suited  to  disappoint  the  phrenologist.  .  .  It  was  delightful 
as  the  powers  of  his  intellect  waned  in  subsequent  years,  to  witness 
the  abounding  of  his  love  to  God  and  men,  more  and  more. 

He  married  on  August  17,  1782,  Elizabeth  Gaylord,  who 
bore  him  three  daughters  and  three  sons,  and  died  in 
Burlington  on  March  29,  1814,  aged  nearly  56  years. 

By  his  second  marriage,  with  Abby  Mills,  who  survived 
him,  he  had  no  children. 

He  published: 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  197 

1.  The  importance  of  the  Church. — A  Sermon  [from  I  Tim.  iii, 
14,   15],  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.   Heman  Hum- 
phrey, at  Fairfield,  April  16,  1807.     Bridgeport,  1807.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[Brozvn  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 
Mr.  Humphrey  was  a  parishioner  of  the  author. 

2.  The   Holy    Scriptures   the   only   instruction   to   the   Christian 
Preacher.     Concio  ad  Clerum. — A  Sermon   [from  Jer.  xxiii,  28], 
delivered   in   the   Chapel    of   Yale-College,   and   addressed   to   the 
Reverend  Clergy,  on  Commencement  Evening,  September  9,  1812. 
New-Haven,  1812.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

He  also  contributed  to  Three  Sermons  on  Infant-Baptism,  by 
the  Rev.  Giles  H.  Cowles,  of  Bristol  (Newark,  1802,  8°),  an  Appen- 
dix (pp.  87-100),  containing  a  Letter,  shewing  that  no  one  partic- 
ular Mode  of  applying  water,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  is 
Essential  to  the  Validity  of  Christian  Baptism. 

He  contributed  to  the  first  number  of  the  first  volume  of  the 
Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine,  July,  1800,  A  letter  giving  an 
account  of  the  revival  of  religion  in  his  parish  in  1798-99  (pp.  21- 
27)  ;  and  is  said  to  have  furnished  many  subsequent  articles  to  the 
same  periodical. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Centennial     Anniversary     of     the       Peck,  MS.  Letter,  Aug.  3,  1906.     Por- 
Litchfield  County  Consociations,  112-       tcr,   Hist.   Discourse  in   Farmington, 
13.     Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Torrington,  527,       41,  72,  74.     Sprague,  Annals  of  the 
741.      E.    Peck,    Historical    Address       Amer.  Pulpit,  i,  690-91. 
at   Burlington,    10-14.     Jonathan  M. 


SAMUEL  NEWELL,  the  youngest  child  of  the  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Newell  (Yale  1739),  of  Bristol,  Connecticut,  was  born 
on  April  n,  1758. 

He  settled  on  his  father's  farm,  and  married  in  1782 
Sarah  Hosford,  or  Horsford,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons, 
the  younger  of  whom  was  graduated  here  in  1810. 

He  held  the  rank  of  Captain  in  the  militia. 

He  died  in  Bristol  on  April  15,  1798,  aged  40  years. 
His  wife  died  on  the  23d  of  the  ensuing  September. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Hall,  Newell  Family,  32.     Timlow,  Hist,  of  Southington,  clxxxvii. 


198  Yale  College 

WILLIAM  NOYES  was  a  son  of  Judge  William  and 
Eunice  (Marvin)  Noyes,  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  had 
brothers  graduated  here  in  1775  and  1785.  He  was  born 
in  Lyme  in  October,  1760. 

He  lived  in  Lyme,  and  married  Sally  Banks,  of  New 
Jersey.  They  had  a  family  of  two  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters. One  daughter  married  Billings  P.  Learned  (Yale 


He  died  in  Lyme  on  December  28,  1834,  in  his  75th 
year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Noyes  Genealogy,  ii,  159,  162.     Sal-       ogies,  iii,  144. 
isbury,  Family-Histories  and  Geneal- 


REUBEN  PARMELE,  the  seventh  child  and  fifth  son  of 
Lieutenant  Abraham  Parmele,  of  Goshen,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Abraham  and  Mary  (Bishop)  Parmele,  of 
Guilford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Goshen  on  April  24, 
1759.  His  mother  was  Mary,  fourth  daughter  of  Nathan- 
iel and  Sarah  (Smith)  Stanley,  of  Avon  and  Goshen.  He 
was  prepared  for  College  by  the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins,  of 
Norfolk.  An  elder  brother  was  a  student  here  until  the 
dispersion  of  students  by  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution, 
but  he  afterwards  completed  his  studies  at  Harvard  and 
was  graduated  in  1778.  This  brother  was  the  agent  in 
procuring  a  charter  for  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  at 
Yale,  of  which  Reuben  Parmele  was  one  of  the  original 
members. 

He  united  with  the  College  Church  on  profession  of 
faith  in  the  winter  of  his  Senior  year ;  and  on  graduation 
he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  divinity.  In  1782  he  is 
mentioned  as  preaching  as  a  candidate  in  Burlington, 
Connecticut. 

His  first  settlement  was  in  Hinesburgh,  in  northwestern 
Vermont,  where  a  Congregational  church  had  been  organ- 


Biographical  Sketches^  1781  199 

ized  during  a  missionary  tour  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan 
Perkins,  of  West  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  May,  1789; 
and  Mr.  Parmele  was  ordained  as  the  first  pastor  on  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1791.  He  was  dismissed  from  this  charge  on 
October  9,  1794,  and  soon  after  returned  to  Connecticut. 

In  the  fall  of  1798  he  visited  Western  New  York  on  an 
exploring  tour,  and  was  so  impressed  with  the  opening 
there  offered  for  missionary  labor  that  he  returned  to 
New  England  for  his  family,  and  on  February  13,  1799, 
was  installed  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  that 
part  of  East  Bloomfield  which  is  now  the  town  of  Victor, 
in  Ontario  County. 

After  a  long  career  of  active  service  in  that  vicinity, 
he  died  at  his  son's  residence  in  Almond,  Allegany  County, 
on  October  25,  1843,  aged  84^  years.'  He  had  become 
very  deaf  many  years  before  his  death. 

He  married  Laura  Collins. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hemenway,     Vermont     Historical       Literary  Diary,  ii,  489.    Warren,  Stan- 
Magazine,  i,  796.     Hotchkin,  Hist,  of       ley  Families,  58. 
Western  N.  Y.,  32-33.    Pres.  Stiles, 


ENOCH  PERKINS,  the  tenth  child  and  sixth  son  of 
Matthew  Perkins,  of  Hanover  Society,  in  the  present 
township  of  Lisbon,  New  London  County,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Deacon  Joseph  and  Martha  (Morgan) 
Perkins,  of  Lisbon,  was  born  on  August  16,  1760.  His 
mother  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Sarah 
(Fobes)  Bishop,  of  Lisbon. 

He  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  W7illiajn  Channing,  of 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  in  May,  1784,  entered  on  the 
place  of  Tutor  in  the  College,  which  he  held  until  Com- 
mencement, in  September  1786. 

He  then  established  himself  in  his  profession  in  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  where  he  resided  in  the  active  discharge 
of  his  duties  to  the  end  of  his  life. 


200  Yale  College 

As  a  lawyer  he  was  distinguished  for  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  details  of  practice  and  unstinted 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  his  clients.  He  was  appointed 
State's  Attorney  for  Hartford  County  in  1809,  and  per- 
formed the  duties  of  public  prosecutor  with  a  character- 
istic regard  to  moral  principle. 

He  represented  the  City  in  the  General  Assembly  during 
three  sessions  from  1805  to  1809. 

He  died  in  Hartford,  after  a  very  brief  illness,  on 
August  28,  1828,  at  the  age  of  68. 

The  Connecticut  Courant  in  announcing  his  death  says 
of  him: 

Firmness  of  moral  principle,  and  a  fearless  and  conscientious 
regard  to  duty,  united  with  prudence  and  sound  judgment,  were 
the  prominent  traits  of  his  character. 

He  was  married,  on  September  20,  1787,  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Nathan  Strong,  to  Anna,  third  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Timothy  Pitkin  (Yale  1747),  of  Farmington,  Connecticut, 
and  sister  of  the  wife  of  his  elder  brother,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Nathan  Perkins  (Princeton  1770),  of  West  Hartford. 

She  died  on  October  14,  1852,  in  her  8gth  year.  Their 
children  were  four  daughters  and  three  sons.  The  eldest 
and  youngest  sons  were  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1818  and 
1824  respectively;  and  the  youngest  daughter  married 
the  Hon.  Roger  S.  Baldwin  (Yale  1811),  the  son  of  a 
classmate  of  Mr.  Perkins. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Courant,  Sept.  2,  1828.     Per-       Genealogy,  27,  49.     Pres.  Stiles,  Lit- 
kins  Family,  pt.  3,  22,  39-41.     Pitkin       erary  Diary,  ii,  276;   iii,  123,  143. 


SAMUEL  DUNBAR  SEARLE  was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  John 
Searle  (Yale  1745),  and  was  probably  born  in  Stoneham, 
Middlesex  County,  Massachusetts,  in  1764. 

He  was  named  for  his  grandfather,  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Dunbar  (Harvard  1723). 


Biographical  Sketches,  ijSi  201 

He  was  admitted  to  the  Junior  Class  in  College  on 
October  21,  1779,  being  then  in  his  i6th  year,  and  remark- 
ably precocious.  His  father's  residence  was  then  in  one 
of  the  parishes  of  Norwich  (probably  West  Farms,  after- 
wards Franklin). 

Nothing  is  known  of  his  history  after  graduation,  but 
he  is  said  to  have  emigrated  to  Ohio. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.   Stiles,  Literary   Diary,   ii,   383. 


ISRAEL  SMITH  was  a  brother  of  Noah  Smith  (Yale 
1778),  and  was  born  in  Suffield,  Connecticut,  on  April  4, 
1759,  but  removed  to  Rupert,  Bennington  County,  Ver- 
mont, during  his  childhood. 

He  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1783,  set- 
tling in  Rupert.  In  1785,  1788,  1789,  and  1790,  he  repre- 
sented that  town  in  the  Legislature.  In  1789  he  was  one 
of  the  seven  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  Legislature 
to  adjust  the  controversy  between  Vermont  and  New 
York.  Having  Accomplished  this  object  he  was  chosen  a 
delegate  to  the  Convention  which  in  January,  1791, 
assented  to  and  adopted  the  United  States  Constitution,  as 
a  necessary  prelude  to  the  admission  of  the  State  into  the 
Union. 

During  the  same  year  he  removed  to  Rutland,  about 
twenty-five  miles  to  the  northwards,  as  a  better  field  for 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  in  the  same  fall  was 
chosen  as  one  of  the  new  Representatives  in  the  United 
States  Congress.  He  was  twice  re-elected,  but  during 
his  third  term,  in  1796,  became  identified  with  the  rising 
anti-Federal  party  by  voting  against  the  appropriation  to 
carry  into  effect  Jay's  Treaty.  This  being  unsatisfactory 
to  a  majority  of  his  constituents,  he  was  superseded  in  his 
office  in  the  spring  of  1797.  In  the  ensuing  fall  he  was  a 


202  Yale  College 

Representative  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  as  the  Repub- 
licans proved  to  be  in  the  majority  there,  he  was  elected 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  was  personally 
a  fine-looking  man,  and  acquired  the  name  of  "the  hand- 
some Judge."  In  1798,  however,  by  a  reverse  in  party 
politics,  he  failed  of  a  re-election, — though  conceded  to  be 
a  judge  of  incorruptible  integrity. 

In  1 80 1  he  was  again  chosen  to  Congress,  and  towards 
the  close  of  his  term  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  where  he  took  his  seat  in  March,  1803.  He 
resigned  from  the  Senate  in  October,  1807,  on  being 
chosen  Governor  of  the  State.  His  health  began  to  decline 
soon  after  entering  upon  this  office,  which  he  held  for  only 
a  single  year. 

He  became  insane,  and  died  in  this  condition,  in  Rut- 
land, on  December  2,  1810,  in  his  52d  year. 

A  son  was  graduated  in  1804  at  Middlebury  College,  of 
which  his  father  was  one  of  the  Trustees  from  its  incor- 
poration until  his  death. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Denting,    Catalogue    of    Vermont       of    Vt,    447,    468.     Hemenway,   Vt. 
Officers,  II 1-12.    H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.       Hist.  Gazetteer,  i,  224 ;  iii,  1061. 


SETH  SAMUEL  SMITH,,  son  of  Samuel  and  Lydia  (Hull) 
Smith,  of  Redding,  Connecticut,  was  baptized  on  Septem- 
ber 28,  1760. 

He  was  admitted  to  College  towards  the  close  of  the 
Freshman  year,  in  June,  1778,  but  did  not  remain  beyond 
the  end  of  Junior  year.  He  then  went  home,  and  was 
mainly  occupied  in  school-teaching,  until  he  received  his 
degree  at  the  Commencement  in  1782. 

He  spent  his  entire  life  in  his  native  town,  as  a  school- 
master and  lawyer, — being  the  first  of  the  latter  profes- 
sion to  settle  there.  He  also  served  for  some  years  as 
Town  Clerk. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  203 

He  died  in  Redding,  about  the  middle  of  August,  1809, 
in  his  5Oth  year.     His  estate  was  insolvent. 
His  wife  Huldah  survived  Jiim. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  276.       124-25,  208. 
Todd,  Hist,  of  Redding,  2d  ed.,  108, 


STEPHEN  WILLIAMS  STEBBINS,  the  second  son  of  Wil- 
liam Stebbins,  Junior,  of  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts, 
and  grandson  of  Lieutenant  William  and  Mercy  (Knowl- 
ton)  Stebbins,  of  Longmeadow,  was  born  in  that  town  on 
June  26,  1758.  His  mother  was  Eunice,  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  Williams  (Harvard  1713),  of  Long- 
meadow,  and  Abigail  (Davenport)  Williams. 

After  graduation  he  remained  at  the  College  as  a 
student  of  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by 
the  New  Haven  East  Association  of  Ministers  on  May 
27,  1783. 

He  received  at  about  the  same  time  calls  to  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  his  native  town 
and  to  that  in  Stratford,  Connecticut.  The  latter  call  he 
•accepted,  and  was  ordained  there  on  August  4,  1784. 

This  relation  continued  for  twenty-nine  years.  In 
August,  1813,  he  was  released  from  his  charge  at  his  own 
request,  and  after  supplying  various  churches  he  was 
installed  over  the  Congregational  Church  in  West  Haven, 
Connecticut,  then  consisting  of  thirty-five  members,  on 
May  24,  1815. 

He  continued  to  minister  to  this  church  until  the  close 
of  the  year  1842,  when  on  account  of  advanced  age  and 
increasing  infirmities  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  resign 
his  charge  to  younger  hands.  A  junior  pastor  was  accord- 
ingly ordained  on  June  28,  1843;  but  before  that  time  the 
senior  pastor  had  been  disabled  by  a  fall,  which  contrib- 
uted to  hasten  his  death,  which  occurred  on  August  15, 
1843,  m  m's  86th  year. 


204  Yale  College 

The  sermon  delivered  at  the  funeral,  by  the  junior  pas- 
tor, was  published.  This  discourse  and  other  tributes 
emphasize  "his  erect  and  noble  form,  his  bland  and 
expressive  countenance,  his  well-balanced  mind,  and  his 
warm,  social  sensibilities,"  and  above  all,  his  meek  and 
quiet  spirit. 

He  married  on  September  n,  1784,  Eunecia,  eldest  child 
of  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Street  (Yale  1751),  of  East  Haven, 
Connecticut,  who  died  on  August  17,  1817,  in  her  58th 
year.  By  her  he  had  four  daughters  and  four  sons.  The 
eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  the  Class  of  1807. 

One  daughter  married,  as  his  third  wife,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Richard  Salter  Storrs  (Williams  Coll.  1807),  of  Brain- 
tree,  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Stebbins  married,  secondly,  on  March  10,  1822, 
Mrs.  Sarah  Beers,  of  New  Haven,  who  died,  very  sud- 
denly, while  sitting  in  her  chair,  on  December  16,  1837,  in 
her  7oth  year.  She  was  by  birth  a  Gorham,  of  New 
Haven,  and  had  first  married  (in  1786)  Woodbridge 
Townsend,  of  New  Haven,  who  died  in  1793.  She  next 
married  Isaac  Beers,  who  died  in  August,  1813. 

He  published: 

God's  government  of  the  church  and  world,  the  source  of  great 
consolation  and  joy;  illustrated  in  a  Sermon  [from  Ps.  xcvii,  i] 
preached  at  Hartford,  May  9,  1811,  .  .  at  the  Anniversary  Election. 
Hartford,  1811.  8°,  pp.  31.  [B.  Ath.  Y.  C. 

The  Charge  which  he  delivered  at  the  ordination  of  the  Rev. 
Edward  Wright  as  Junior  Pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  West  Haven,  on  June  28,  1843,  was  published  by  Mr.  Wright 
as  an  appendix  (pp.  14-16)  to  the  Sermon  delivered  at  Mr.  Steb- 
bins' funeral. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,  1294.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii, 

30.    E.   Colton,   Discourse  historical,  276-77;    iii,  14,  28,  132.     Street  Gen- 

of    W.    Haven,   29-33,   43-45.    S3~54-  ealogy,  39,  63.      Townshend  Family, 

Longmeadow    Centennial,    Appendix,  4th  ed.,  65.     Williams  Family,  86.    E. 

86.      New  Haven   Colony   Historical  Wright,   Sermon   at  the  Funeral   of 

Society's    Papers,    iv,    204.      Orcutt,  Rev.  S.  W.  Stebbins. 
Hist,   of    Stratford,   i,   413;     ii,   780, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  205 

DANIEL  TOMLINSON,  the  youngest  of  six  children  of 
Captain  John  Tomlinson,  of  Derby,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Wooster)  Tomlinson, 
of  Derby,  was  born  on  May  20,  1759.  His  mother  was 
Deborah,  eldest  daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  and  Deborah 
(Bennett)  Bassett,  of  Derby. 

He  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Backus 
(Yale  1/69),  of  Somers,  Connecticut,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  New  Haven  Association  of  Ministers  on 
October  I,  1783. 

He  began  preaching  as  a  candidate  in  Holliston,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  November,  1783,  and  went  next  to  Wilbra- 
ham,  Massachusetts.  In  April,  1784,  he  began  preaching 
in  Berkley,  Massachusetts,  where  he  declined  a  call  to 
settle. 

In  November,  and  again  in  December,  1785,  he  was 
voted  a  call  to  settle  in  the  parish  of  Ellington,  in  Windsor, 
Connecticut,  but  declined. 

His  first  and  only  pastoral  charge  was  in  Oakham, 
Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  where  he  began  to 
preach  early  in  1785,  and  where  he  received  a  unanimous 
call  to  the  Congregational  Church  on  March  15,  1786,  to 
which  the  town  acceded  on  April  3,  with  the  promise  of 
an  annual  salary  of  £80.  He  was  ordained  there  on  June 
22,  1786  (Dr.  Backus  preaching  the  sermon),  and  was 
connected  with  the  church  as  sole  pastor  until  October, 
1829,  when  on  account  of  the  infirmities  of  advancing 
age  he  welcomed  a  colleague  pastor.  He  died  in  office  on 
October  29,  1842,  in  his  84th  year. 

An  oil  portrait  is  in  the  possession  of  his  descendants. 

He  married  on  November  23,  1786,  Lucy,  third  daugh- 
ter of  James  and  Ruth  (Holbrook)  Beard,  of  Derby,  Con- 
necticut, who  died  on  September  6,  1831,  aged  69  years. 
Of  their  four  sons  and  three  daughters  only  two  sons  and 
one  daughter  survived  infancy,  and  of  these  the  elder  son 
died  while  preparing  for  College. 


206  Yale  College 

In  1828  a  majority  of  the  Society  took  possession  of  the 
meeting-house  for  Unitarian  worship  and  the  town  by 
vote  put  an  end  to  the  contract  with  their  minister.  Mr. 
Tomlinson,  with  every  member  of  the  church  and  a  part 
of  the  Society,  retired  to  a  private  house,  where  they  held 
services  for  the  next  five  years. 

He  was  loved  and  respected  as  an  excellent  Christian 
pastor.  In  the  pulpit  his  voice  and  manner  were  very 
peculiar.  He  always  wore  black  gloves  while  conducting 
the  service.  His  ministry  was  rewarded  with  several 
seasons  of  special  additions  to  the  church, — notably  in 
1817,  1821,  and  1822.  His  successor  in  office  described 
him  as  "a  sound  theologian,  a  man  of  great  faith  and 
prayer,  and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures." 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Quart.  Register,  x,  127,  134.       America,  40,  73.      Sanford,  Hist,  of 
Hist,  of  Worcester  County,  1879,  ii,       Berkley,  8.     Stiles,  Hist,  of  Windsor, 
166.     Oakham  Vital  Records,  40-50,       2d    ed.,    i,    823.      Professor    H.    P. 
102,    131.       Orcv.it,   Hist,    of    Derby,       Wright,  MS.  Letter,  May,  1905. 
299-300,    562,    771 ;     Tomlinsons    in 


SYLVESTER  WELLS,  the  second  son  and  third  child  of 
Dr.  Joseph  Wells,  a  physician  of  eminence  in  Kensington 
Society,  in  the  present  township  of  Berlin,  Connecticut, 
was  born  on  May  20,  1762.  His  mother  was  Mary,  second 
daughter  of  Lieutenant  Samuel  and  Mary  (Hooker)  Hart, 
of  Farmington. 

He  studied  medicine  and  settled  in  practice  in  Berlin, 
Connecticut,  whence  he  removed  to  Hartford  about  1805. 
He  continued  in  practice  there  until  the  failure  of  his 
powers,  probably  about  1825. 

He  died  in  Hartford  on  July  24,  1837,  at  the  age  of  75. 

He  was  a  man  of  brilliant  talents,  keen  wit,  and  exten- 
sive influence.  He  was  an  ardent  Anti-Federalist,  and 
was  induced  to  remove  to  Hartford  by  the  persuasion  of 
his  political  friends,  who  desired  his  help  in  the  cam- 


*  Biographical  Sketches,  i?8i  207 

paign  against  the  "Standing  Order."  He  entered  vigor- 
ously into  this  movement,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Con- 
vention which  framed  the  State  Constitution  of  1818. 
For  four  years  (1818-1822)  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  State  Senate,  and  during  all  but  the  first  of  these  years 
he  served,  as  one  of  the  six  Senior  Senators,  as  a  Fellow 
of  the  Corporation  of  the  College.  He  had  already 
received,  in  1816,  the  honorary  degree  of  M.D.  from  Yale, 
on  recommendation  of  the  State  Medical  Society. 

While  his  party  was  in  the  minority  he  stood  as  a  can- 
didate for  Congress;  but  he  had  no  desire  for  official 
distinction  and  declined  a  nomination  for  the  same  office 
after  his  friends  were  in  political  power. 

As  a  practitioner  he  was  bold  and  sometimes  lacking  in 
caution. 

When  he  first  went  to  Hartford  he  attended  the  South 
(or  Second)  Congregational  Church;  but  in  1822  he  was 
prominent  in  a  secession  which  founded  a  Universalist 
Society. 

He  first  married  Eunice,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Simon  Waterman  (Yale  1759),  of  Northbury  Society,  in 
Waterbury,  afterwards  the  town  of  Plymouth,  Connect- 
icut. She  died  in  Hartford,  of  the  spotted  fever,  on  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1809,  in  her  39th  year;  and  he  next  married,  on 
December  27,  1810,  Esther  (Pratt),  the  wealthy  widow 
of  John  Dodd,  Junior,  of  Hartford  (whom  she  married 
in  1794,  and  who  died  in  March,  1809). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,  Hart  Family,  54-55.  /.  ner  and  Russell,  Sketches  of  Physi- 
Gay,  MS.  Letter,  Apr.  5,  1905.  Par-  cians  in  Hartford,  19-21,  34.  Trum- 
ker,  Hist,  of  the  Second  Church,  butt,  Memorial  Hist,  of  Hartford 
Hartford,  182, 184-85,  367,  391.  Sum-  County,  i,  141. 


JOHN  WILLIAMS,  the  eldest  son  and  second  child  of 
Sheriff  Ezekiel  Williams,  of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Solomon  Williams  (Har- 
vard 1719),  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  was  born  in 


2o8  Yale  College 

Wethers  field  on  September  n,  1762.  His  mother  was 
Prudence,  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Stoddard  (Harvard 
1701),  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts;  three  of  his 
brothers  were  graduated  here,  in  1785,  1794,  and  1796. 

He  studied  law  with  Judge  Charles  Chauncey,  of  New 
Haven,  and  at  his  father's  urgent  request  settled  in  his 
native  town;  but  having  a  sufficient  fortune  he  early 
relinquished  his  profession,  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
interests  of  the  community  and  to  general  literature. 

In  1802  he  made  a  public  profession  of  religion,  and 
after  that  the  study  of  theology  became  his  favorite  pur- 
suit, and  he  was  zealous  in  the  support  of  the  great  benev- 
olent enterprises  of  the  day. 

To  an  uncommonly  handsome  person  he  added  the 
courtly  manners  of  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school. 

He  died  in  Wethersfield  on  December  17,  1840,  in  his 
79th  year. 

He  married,  on  September  25,  1799,  Sophia,  youngest 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  John  Worthington  (Yale  1740),  of 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons 
and  one  daughter.  The  second  son,  the  only  one  growing 
to  maturity,  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1822,  but  died 
before  his  father. 

Mrs.  Williams  died  on  May  5,  1813,  in  her  48th  year, 
and  he  next  married,  on  January  I,  1817,  Mary,  daughter 
of  Colonel  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Ripley)  Dyer,  of 
Windham,  Connecticut,  and  widow  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer 
H.  Silliman  (Union  College  1811),  of  Amsterdam,  Mont- 
gomery County,  New  York.  By  this  marriage  he  had 
two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The  elder  son  was  grad- 
uated at  this  College  in  1838,  but  died  early.  The  second 
daughter  married  the  Rev.  Charles  B.  McLean  (Yale 
1836),  and  the  youngest  married  the  Rev.  William  Wat- 
son Andrews  (Yale  1831).  Mrs.  Williams  died  in 
Wethersfield,  on  August  12,  1859,  in  her  75th  year. 

A  portrait  of  Squire  Williams  is  engraved  in  the 
Williams  Family. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  209 

AUTHORITIES. 

Goodwin,  Genealogical  Notes,  273-       scriptions,  140.      Tuttle  Family,  353. 
74.     Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethersfield,  ii,       Williams  Family,  172-74. 
816-18.      Tillotson,  Wethersfield  In- 


JOSEPH  Lucius  WOOSTER,  the  only  son  of  Joseph 
Wooster,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  and  a  nephew  of  Gen- 
eral David  Wooster  (Yale  1738),  was  born  in  Stratford 
on  October  n,  1760.  His  mother  was  Lucy,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Theophilus  and  Sarah  (Curtiss)  Nichols,  of  Strat- 
ford. 

His  father's  family  were  attendants  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

He  settled  in  New  Haven  as  a  lawyer,  and  was  married 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bela  Hubbard,  on  February  28,  1794,  to 
Elizabeth  (or  Betsey),  younger  daughter  of  Isaac  and 
Mary  (Mansfield)  Beers,  of  New  Haven.  His  residence 
was  on  Broadway,  on  the  west  side  of  the  entrance  to  York 
Square, — that  Square  and  the  surrounding  houses  being 
then  his  garden. 

He  held  the  rank  of  Colonel  in  the  militia. 

He  died  in  New  Haven  on  July  21,  1796,  in  his  36th 
year,  having  been  thrown  into  a  consumption  as  the  result 
of  breaking  his  thigh  by  a  fall  from  a  horse  about  four 
months  before,  while  riding  from  his  town  house  to  his 
country-seat  in  Derby.  The  notices  of  his  death  bear  wit- 
ness to  his  character  as  greatly  and  deservedly  respected 
for  superior  merit  and  worth. 

His  widow  died  on  July  24,  1820,  aged  53  years.  For 
some  time  before  her  death  she  had  not  been  considered 
of  sound  mind,  and  therefore  a  will  by  which  she  left  half 
of  her  property  for  the  erection  of  a  Baptist  Church  in 
New  Haven,  was  disallowed. 

The  only  child  of  Colonel  Wooster  married  the  Rev. 
Professor  Eleazar  T.  Fitch  (Yale  1810). 


210  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,       Literary    Diary,    ii,    521.       Teasdale, 
2,6.     Conn.    Journal,    July    27,    1796.        Hist.  Discourse  on  the  Baptist  Church 
New   Haven    Colony   Historical    So-       in  New  Haven,  21.      Tuttle  Family, 
ciety  Papers,  iv,  614.      Orcutt,  Hist.       204-05. 
of  Stratford,  ii,  1349.      Pres.  Stiles, 


NATHAN  WOOSTER,  the  third  son  of  John  Wooster,  of 
Stratford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Jonas  and  Jane 
Wooster,  of  Derby,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Stratford  on 
August  4,  1757.  His  mother  was  Abigail,  daughter  of 
Ebenezer  and  Mehitable  Blakeman,  of  Stratford.  He  was 
a  second  cousin  of  his  classmate  just  noticed,  and  like  his 
classmate,  he  attended  the  Episcopal  Church  while  in 
College. 

He  settled  in  Stratford,  and  was  married,  in  Ripton 
Parish  (now  Huntington),  on  May  24,  1781,  to  Diantha, 
younger  daughter  of  Timothy  and  Beulah  Blakeman. 

Their  children  were  two  daughters  and  one  son. 

He  died  in  Stratford  in  1796. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,       1349.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii, 
87.      Orcutt,   Hist,    of   Stratford,   ii,       521. 


ELIZUR  WRIGHT,  the  only  son  of  Deacon  Elizur  Wright, 
of  (South)  Canaan,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Nathaniel  and  Ann  (Deming)  Wright,  of  Wethersfield, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Canaan  on  July  30,  1762.  His 
mother  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  Leonard  and  Abigail 
(Gibbs)  Dix,  and  widow  of  Elisha  Bordman,  of  Wethers- 
field. 

He  did  not  enter  College  until  near  the  close  of  Fresh- 
man year  (June,  1778). 

After  graduation  he  spent  one  year  in  teaching  in 
Wethersfield,  and  then  returned  to  his  native  place,  where 
he  dwelt  with  his  parents  and  was  occupied  in  superin- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1781  211 

tending  the  farm,  in  private  study,  in  fitting  young  men 
for  College,  and  in  discharging  the  duties  of  citizenship. 

He  held  for  several  years  a  commission  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  represented  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly 
at  seven  sessions  between  1799  and  1805.  He  was  also 
chosen  a  deacon  in  the  village  church. 

About  the  year  1808  he  decided  to  leave  Connecticut  for 
the  wilds  of  Ohio,  and  exchanged  his  patrimonial  farm  for 
three  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  township  of  Tallmadge, 
in  Summit  County.  In  1809  he  made  a  journey  thither 
and  selected  his  land,  and  arranged  for  building.  He  then 
returned  to  Connecticut,  and  in  1810  removed  with  his 
wife  and  eight  children.  The  journey  was  performed  in 
thirty-nine  days. 

Squire  Wright,  as  he  was  commonly  called,  sold  lots 
from  his  land  to  actual  settlers,  at  a  small  advance  on  its 
cost,  and  generally  on  very  easy  terms  of  payment.  He 
resided  in  Tallmadge  until  late  in  life,  when  he  removed  to 
the  home  of  a  married  daughter  in  Elyria,  about  forty 
miles  to  the  northwestwards. 

After  his  wife's  death  he  returned  to  Tallmadge,  in  the 
spring  of  1845,  and  died  there  on  December  15  of  that 
year,  in  his  84th  year. 

He  married,  on  October  28,  1784,  Rhoda,  the  eldest 
child  of  Francis  and  Rhoda  (Boardman)  Hanmer,  of 
Wethersfield,  who  died  in  1798.  Their  children  were  three 
daughters  and  three  sons,  of  whom  the  eldest  son  died  in 
infancy. 

He  next  married,  in  1803,  Clarissa  Richards,  who  died 
in  1843.  Their  children  were  two  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. Of  these  the  elder  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1826. 

In  Tallmadge,  as  in  his  earlier  home,  he  was  active  in 
the  support  of  education  and  religion,  and  generous 
towards  all  good  causes.  He  was  one  of  the  original  trus- 
tees of  Western  Reserve  College  (in  1826),  and  served 
until  induced  to  resign  by  the  infirmities  of  age  in  1840. 


He  was  a  deacon  of  the  Congregational  Church,  and  for 
a  time  held  a  commission  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  In 
the  domestic  circle,  he  was  a  pattern  of  meekness,  kind- 
ness, affection,  and  faithfulness,  and  in  all  relations  a 
practical  Christian. 

Four  papers  written  by  him,  and  communicated  to  the 
Connecticut  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  were  published  in  the  American  Journal  of 
Science  and  Arts  (New  Haven),  as  follows: — 

1.  A  Theory  of  Fluxions;   in  vol.  14  (1828),  pp.  330-50. 

2.  A  Discourse  on  the  different  views  that  have  been  taken  of 
the  theory  of  Fluxions;  in  vol.  16  (1829),  pp.  53-60. 

3.  Mathematical  Papers  [on  An  improvement  in  Field  Surveying, 
and  Methods  of  rinding  areas]  ;   in  vol.  22  (1832),  pp.  74-82. 

4.  On  the  application  of  the  Fluxional  Ratio  to  particular  cases ; 
and  the  coincidence  of  the  several  orders  of  Fluxions,  with  the 
binomial  theorem;   in  vols.  24  (1833),  pp.  298-312,  and  25  (1834), 
pp.  93-103.  

AUTHORITIES. 

Boardman  Genealogy,  267.     Pres.      410, 863.     Tallmadge  Semi-Centennial 
E.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  276.    H.       Commemoration,  82-83. 
R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethersfield,  ii, 


Annals,  1781-82  213 


Annals,    1781-82 


The  College  year  opened  with  only  one  permanent  officer 
of  instruction  besides  the  President,  namely,  the  Professor 
of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  who  resided  in 
Newtown,  and  came  occasionally  to  New  Haven  to  read 
lectures.  Professor  Strong-  was  out  of  favor  with  the 
Corporation,  and  with  the  community,  because  of  his  luke- 
warmness  towards  the  Revolutionary  struggle;  and  in 
December  he  threw  up  his  office  and  retired.  President 
Stiles  then  undertook  the  duty  of  delivering  occasional 
lectures  in  his  place. 

The  chair  of  Divinity  remained  vacant  until  June,  1782, 
when  the  Rev.  Samuel  Wales  (Yale  1767),  late  of  Mil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  who  had  been  elected  in  the  previous 
September,  began  his  duties  under  very  favorable  auspices. 

A  fourth  tutorship,  in  addition  to  the  three  usually 
filled,  had  been  established  at  the  previous  Commencement, 
on  account  of  the  unprecedented  size  of  the  coming  Fresh- 
man class;  and  Elizur  Goodrich  (Yale  1779)  was  assigned 
to  this  duty  at  the  opening  of  the  new  College  year.  In 
November  Tutor  Atwater  laid  down  his  office,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Zebulon  Ely  (Yale  1779). 

The  old  wooden '  College  building,  which  was  built  in 
1717-18,  on  College  Street,  about  fifty  feet  from  the 
street  line,  and  with  its  south  end  about  thirty  feet  from 
the  Chapel  Street  line,  had  been  partially  taken  down  in 
1775 ;  the  south  end  of  the  building  still  continued  to  be 
occupied,  but  in  October,  1781,  in  a  time  of  College  uproar, 
it  was  demolished. 

In  January,  1782,  Dr.  Daniel  Lathrop  (Yale  1733),  a 
wealthy  druggist  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  died,  leaving 
a  bequest  of  £500  sterling  to  the  College,  without  restric- 
tions. 


214  Yale  College 

The  news  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  was  received 
at  New  Haven  on  October  27,  and  the  event  was  duly 
celebrated  here  on  November  5,  when  Tutor  Meigs 
delivered  a  public  oration  and  in  the  evening  the  College 
and  the  other  buildings  fronting  the  Green  were  illumin- 
ated. 


Sketches,   Class  of   1782 


*Obadias  Bowen  "1793 

*Judson  Canfield,  A.M.  *i84O 

*Wait  Cornwell,  A.M.  *i8i6 

*Daniel  Crocker,  A.M.  *i83i 

*Daniel  Dana  "1839 
^Israel  Fuller 

*Lemuel  Garnsey  ^1782 

*Sanctus-Johannes  Honeywood,  A.M.  *:798 

*  Johannes  Hooker,  A.M.  *i829 
*Stephanus  Titus  Hosmer,  A.M.  1790,  LL.D.  1823, 

Socius  ex  off.,   Reip.   Conn.   Cur.   Supr.  Jurid. 

Princ.  "1834 

*Josephus  Ives,  A.M.  "1825 

*Gualterus  King,  A.M.  "1815 

*  Johannes  Lovett,  e  Congr.  *i8i8 
*Miles  Merwin,  A.M.  "1793 
* Jacobus  Noyes,  A.M.  "1844 
*Ashurus  Robbins,  LL.D.  Brun.  1835,  Rerumpubl. 

Foed.  Sen.  *i845 

*Ephraimus  Root  *l&25 

*David  Selden,  A.M.  "1825 

*Zeph anias  Hollister  Smith,  AM.  * 1 836 

*Ludovicus  Burr  Sturges,  A.M.,  e  Congr.  *i844 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  215 

*Guilielmus  Abdiel  Thompson,  A.M.  "1847 

*EzraWaite  "1838 

*Seldenus  Warner,  A.M.  1786  "1843 

*Johannes  Willard,  A.M.  *i826 

*Nathan  Williams  "1784 

*Samuel  Woodruff,  A.M.  "1850 


OBADIAH  BOWEN,  the  eldest  child  of  Governor  Jabez 
Bowen  (Yale  1757),  was  born  in  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  on  October  5,  1763.  He  was  named  for  his  mater- 
nal grandfather,  Obadiah  Brown. 

He  entered  on  mercantile  life  in  New  York  City,  but 
was  lost  in  the  shipwreck  of  a  sailing  vessel  (The  Mary) 
in  which  he  was  a  passenger,  off  Dunkirk,  on  the  coast  of 
France,  about  the  2Oth  of  August,  1793,  in  his  3Oth  year. 
He  was  unmarried,  and  his  will  (dated  in  April,  1793) 
was  proved  in  New  York  in  November,  1793,  leaving  all 
to  his  father,  who  is  directed  to  dispose  of  the  property  to 
his  children  as  he  sees  fit. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  305.      23,  1869.    The  U.  S.  Chronicle,  Prov- 
Rev.  E.  M.  Stone,  MS.  Letter,  June      idence,  Nov.  14,  1793. 


JUDSON  CANFIELD,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Colonel 
Samuel  Canfield,  Junior,  of  New  Milford,  Connecticut, 
and  a  nephew  of  the  Hon.  John  Canfield  (Yale  1762),  was 
born  in  New  Milford  on  January  23,  1759.  His  mother 
was  Elizabeth,  the  eldest  child  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca  (Sher- 
man) Hollister,  of  Woodbury,  Connecticut. 

He  studied  law,  and  began  practice  in  his  native  town, 
but  after  the  sudden  death  of  his  uncle,  John  Canfield,  of 
Sharon,  Connecticut,  in  the  fall  of  1786,  it  seemed  best  for 
him  to  remove  to  that  place,  in  the  hope  of  gaining  some 
part  of  the  lucrative  practice  which  his  uncle  had  enjoyed. 
He  was  successful  in  his  object,  and  remained  in  Sharon 
for  twenty-eight  years,  highly  respected  and  useful. 


216  Yale  College 

He  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
seventeen  sessions,  between  1791  and  1809.  In  the  latter 
year  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Assistants,  and  held 
this  rank  until  his  removal  in  1815  to  the  town  of  Canfield, 
in  Mahoning  County,  in  north-eastern  Ohio,  in  which  he 
had  long  held  land,  and  which  had  been  named  from  him 
in  1798. 

He  was  also  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
for  three  or  four  years  before  leaving  Connecticut. 

His  latest  years  were  spent  with  his  daughters  in  New 
York  City,  where  he  died  on  February  5,  1840,  at  the  age 
of  81. 

He  married,  on  March  5,  1786,  Mabel,  third  daughter 
of  Captain  Lazarus  and  Hannah  (Bostwick)  Ruggles,  of 
New  Milford,  who  was  born  on  November  8,  1760. 

A  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1806.  He  left  also 
three  married  daughters ;  one  was  the  wife  of  the  Hon. 
Frederick  A.  Tallmadge  (Yale  1811). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hinman,  Puritan  Settlers,  482.    Or-      757.    T.  Rabbins,  Diary,  i,  216.    Sedg- 
cutt,  Hist,  of  New  Milford,  681-82,      zvick,  Hist,  of  Sharon,  68-69. 


WAIT  CORNWELL  was  born  in  Middlefield  Parish,  in 
Middletown,  Connecticut,  on  September  17,  1750,  the 
second  and  eldest  surviving  child  of  Timothy  and  Martha 
(Burr)  Cornwell,  and  grandson  of  Captain  Wait  and 
Mary  (Todd)  Cornwell,  of  Middletown. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South  Association  of  Ministers 
in  February,  1784. 

He  was  ordained,  without  pastoral  charge,  by  the  Suf- 
folk Presbytery,  on  Long  Island,  in  1787,  but  does  not 
appear  ever  to  have  been  settled  over  a  parish. 

He  was  largely  instrumental  in  organizing  the  First 
Church  in  Bakerstown,  now  Poland,  Maine,  in  September, 
1791. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  217 

He  remained  in  connection  with  the  Suffolk  Presbytery 
until  1803  or  a  litti6  later;  but  finally,  while  sojourning 
at  his  home  in  Middlefield,  he  joined  the  Baptist  church. 

About  1814  he  removed  to  New  York  State.  He  died 
in  Minden,  or  Fort  Plain,  Montgomery  County,  in  March, 
1816,  in  his  66th  year. 

He  married,  on  February  14,  1799,  Patience  Gilbert,  of 
Middletown,  and  a  son  and  two  daughters  were  born  in 
that  town  (1799-1803). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Atkins,  Hist,  of  Middlefield,  157-  tennial  Address  at  Middletown,  220. 
58.  Conn.  Courant,  March  26,  1816.  Records  of  Presbyterian  Church, 
Cornwall  Family,  29, 130.  Field,  Cen-  1706-1788,543. 


DANIEL  CROCKER,  the  second  son  of  James  Crocker,  of 
Columbia,  Connecticut,  which  was  then  a  part  of  the  town 
of  Lebanon,  and  grandson  of  James  and  Alice  (Swift) 
Crocker,  was  born  on  January  30,  1760.  His  mother  was 
Rhoda  Johnson,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut.  He  united  with 
the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his  faith  while  study- 
ing theology  here,  in  September,  1783. 

He  was  licensed 'to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  West 
Association  of  Ministers  on  September  30,  1788. 

He  married  Ann,  daughter  of  John  and  Ann  (Mix) 
Austin,  of  New  Haven,  and  for  some  years  resided  in 
New  Haven,  where  he  and  his  wife  were  admitted  to 
membership  in  the  North  Church  in  1801.  Later  he  affil- 
iated with  the  Presbyterians;  and  in  1807  became  the  first 
principal  of  the  Academy  in  Bedford,  New  York.  From 
this  post  he  was  called,  in  August,  1809,  .to  be  colleague 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Redding,  Con- 
necticut. 

He  accepted  the  call,  and  was  ordained  there  on  Octo- 
ber 4.  The  senior  pastor,  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Bartlett 
(Yale  1749),  died  about  three  months  later;  and  Mr. 
Crocker  continued  in  useful  service  there  until  he  took  a 
dismission  on  October  24,  1824. 


218  Yale  College 

In  October,  1827,  he  was  again  settled,  over  the  small- 
church  in  New  Fairfield,  a  few  miles  to  the  north  of  his 
former  parish. 

He  struggled  with  infirmity  and  extreme  poverty  in 
this  charge  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  New  Fair- 
field  late  in  March,  1831,  at  the  age  of  71  years. 

A  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Charles  G.  Selleck  (Yale 
1827).  

AUTHORITIES. 

Baird,  Hist,  of  Bedford  Church,  78.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  91. 
150th  Anniversary  of  Church  in  Col-  Todd,  Hist,  of  Redding,  87-89.  Tut- 
umbia,  38.  T.  Robbing,  Diary,  ii,  198.  tie  Family,  626. 


DANIEL  DANA  was  born  in  Ashford,  Connecticut,  on 
September  16,  1760,  the  eldest  son  and  second  child  of 
Anderson  Dana,  a  lawyer  of  Ashford,  and  the  grandson 
of  Jacob  and  Abigail  Dana. 

His  mother  was  Susanna,  younger  daughter  of  Caleb 
and  Lydia  (Griswold)  Huntington,  of  Lebanon,  Connect- 
icut. 

His  father  removed  to  Wyoming,  Pennsylvania,  in  1772, 
.and  was  killed  by  the  Indians  in  the  massacre  there  in 
July,  1778.  This  delayed  the  entrance  into  College  of  his 
son  (who  was  then  at  school  in  Lebanon),  but  he  was  able 
to  join  the  Class  at  the  opening  of  Sophomore  year. 
Another  son  was  graduated  in  1797. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  settled  in  Guild- 
hall, on  the  Connecticut  River,  in  Northern  Vermont. 
He  represented  that  town  in  the  Legislature  in  1800-1806, 
and  1808;  was  Judge  of  Probate  from  1801  to  1809,  and 
in  1813-14;  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  County  Court  from 
1801  to  1807,  and  in  1813-14.  He  was  chosen  deacon  of 
the  Congregational  Church  in  1813. 

Late  in  life  he  removed  to  the  home  of  his  children  in 
Ohio,  and  he  died  in  Warren,  Trumbull  County,  on 
November  8,  1839,  in  his  8oth  year,  having  lived  a  life  of 
usefulness,  and  left  a  memory  without  stain  or  reproach. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  219 

He  married  Dolly  Kibbe,  and  had  a  family  of  eleven 
daughters  and  three  sons.  The  eldest  son  was  the  father 
of  the  distinguished  editor,  Charles  Anderson  Dana. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Descendants  of  Richard  Dana,  14,  Memoir,  128-29.  Miner,  Hist,  of 
16.  Hemenway,  Vt.  Hist.  Magazine,  Wyoming,  Appendix,  40-41.  Pres. 
i,  948,  1005-07.  Huntington  Family  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  383. 


ISRAEL  FULLER  came  to  College  from  Worthington 
Society,  in  the  present  township  of  Berlin,  Connecticut, 
and  was  probably  the  son  of  Israel  and  Mary  Fuller,  and 
baptized  in  Kensington  Society  on  September  12,  1762. 

On  account  of  some  misdemeanor,  he  was  rusticated 
for  the  whole  of  Junior  year. 

Late  in  the  year  1783  he  went  South,  and  no  more  is 
known  of  him. 

AUTHORITIES. 
/.  Gay,  MS.  Letter,  Apr.  28,  1905.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  468. 


LEMUEL  GARNSEY,  a  son  of  Lemuel  and  Ruth  (Camp) 
Garnsey,  or  Guernsey,  of  Durham,  Connecticut,  was  born 
there  on  January  8,  1762,  and  was  baptized  two  days  later.  < 

He  died  in  Durham  on  October  21,   1782,  in  his  2ist  . 
year. 

The  inscription  over  his  grave  witnesses  that  "by  an 
unblemished  youth,  and  a  well  improved  public  education, 
he  bid  fair  for  usefulness  in  life." 


AUTHORITIES. 
Fowler,  Hist,  of  Durham,  120,  311,  387. 


ST.  JOHN  HONEYWOOD  was  born  in  Leicester,  Massa- 
chusetts, on  February  7,  1763,  being  the  son  of  Dr. 
John  Honeywood,  a  respectable  physician  in  that  town,  of 


220  Yale  College 

English  birth.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Judge  Thomas  Steel  (Harvard  1730)  and  Mary  Steel,  of 
Leicester.  In  the  record  of  his  birth  he  is  named  John. 

He  lost  both  his  parents  before  he  was  fourteen,  and 
was  left  almost  destitute  of  means,  but  was  prepared  for 
College  at  the  famous  school  of  Master  Tisdale,  in 
Lebanon,  Connecticut. 

He  was  a  favorite  pupil  of  President  Stiles,  and  at 
graduation  was  the  Valedictory  Orator  of  his  class. 
Among  the  President's  papers  several  of  Mr.  Honeywood's 
pen-and-ink  drawings  are  preserved,  of  great  cleverness. 
Two  are  reproduced  in  the  printed  edition  of  the  Presi- 
dent's Diary. 

For  two  years  after  graduation  he  had  charge  of  the 
Academy  in  Schenectady,  New  York,  which  afterwards 
developed  into  Union  College.  ;% 

He  then  spent  two  years  in  the  study  of  law  in  the  office 
of  Peter  W.  Yates,  of  Albany ;  and  on  his  admission  to  the 
bar  he  removed  to  Salem,  in  Washington  County,  where 
he  practiced  law  for  the  rest  of  his  life  with  unblemished 
reputation.  He  was  made  a  Master  in  Chancery,  and 
resigned  this  office  on  his  appointment  by  the  Governor 
and  Council  as  County  Clerk,  in  February,  1797. 

He  also  interested  himself  in  politics,  and  edited  The 
Washington  Patriot,  a  short-lived  newspaper  of  Salem, 
which  began  its  career  in  May,  1796,  and  became  extinct 
before  the  close  of  the  year.  In  November,  1796,  he  was 
chosen  a  Presidential  elector.  ,:' 

On  January  I,  1798,  he  began  the  issue  of  a  new  paper, 
The  Northern  Centinel,  which  proved  a  success. 

His  situation  had  now  become  comparatively  opulent; 
but  an  hereditary  gout,  and  a  general  debility,  occasioned 
probably  by  too  sedentary  a  life,  were  the  ostensible  causes 
of  his  early  death.  He  died  at  his  house  in  Salem,  on 
September  i,  1798,  in  his  36th  year. 

He  married  about  1788  Clarissa,  sixth  daughter  of 
Colonel  John  and  Hannah  (Mosely)  Mosely,  of  Westfield, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  221 

Massachusetts,  who  was  three  or  four  years  his  junior. 
They  had  no  children,  and  she  soon  married  a  Mr.  Moore, 
who  succeeded  Mr.  Honeywood  in  his  law-practice,  and 
edited  his  poems  in  1801. 

Being  again  left  a  widow,  she  married  as  her  third  hus- 
band a  Mr.  Campbell,  who  lived  in  Augusta,  Canada  West 
(now  Ontario) .  She  survived  him  also,  and  died  in  Brock- 
ville,  Ontario,  about  1840. 

Mr.  Honeywood  had  a  fine  literary  taste,  and  a  fund  of 
genuine  humor,  together  with  a  fair  share  of  the  eccen- 
tricities of  genius.  These  qualities  made  him  a  delightful 
companion,  and  have  perpetuated  his  memory. 

He  published: 

1.  An  Address,  delivered  In  Union  Lodge,  at  Albany,  on  the 
Festival  of  St.  John  the- Baptist,  June  24th,  1785.    Before  a  respect- 
able Auditory  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons.     By  S.  John  Honey- 
wood,  A.B.  Secretary  of  said  Lodge.    Albany,  1785.-   16°,  34  pp. 

[C.  H.  S. 

2.  A  Poem,  on  reading  President  Washington's  Address,  declin- 
ing a  Re-Election  to  the  Presidency.     [Written  in  October,  1796.] 
By  S.  J.  H.  Esquire,  one  of  the  Federal  Electors  of  the  State  of 
New-York.    Albany  [1796].    8°,  pp.  8.       [B.  Publ    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

The  same,  anonymous,  with  title:  A  Poem  on  the  President's 
Farewell  Address,  with  a  Sketch  of  the  character  of  his  Successor. 
Second  Edition.  Philadelphia.  8°,  pp.  8. 

[N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    Y.  C. 

After  his  death  appeared : — 

Poems,  with  some  pieces  in  prose.  New- York,  1801.  16°,  pp. 
viii,  1 60. 

[A.   A.    S.     B.   Publ.      Brit   Mus.      Harv.      N.    Y.    H.   S. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     N.  Y.  State  Libr.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

Including  a  Preface,  with  biographical  details,  by  the  editor, 
Mr.  Moore,  and  a  long  list  of  subscribers.  The  contents  relate 
in  part  to  current  politics,  but  largely  consist  of  occasional  and 
humorous  verse. 

An  account  of  a  journey  to  Bennington,  Vermont,  in  1786,  in 
company  with  President  Stiles,  is  printed  in  Holmes's  Life  of  Stiles, 
1798,  pp.  297-301. 


222  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Hist,  of  Washington  County,  1894,       Literary  Diary,  ii,  482 ;   iii,  32,  241-42. 
68,  76,  84.     Leicester  Vital  Records,       Washburn,  Hist,  of  Leicester,  200-02. 
51.      Robinson,  Memoir  of  the  Rev.       Worcester  Magazine,  i,  305-08. 
Wm.  Robinson,  200-01.    Pres.  Stiles, 


JOHN  HOOKER,  the  second  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Hooker 
(Yale  1751),  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  was  born 
in  Northampton  on  October  8,  1761. 

He  studied  law  with  his  mother's  brother,  Colonel  John 
Worthington  (Yale  1740),  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
and  in  March,  1786,  declined  the  offer  of  a  tutorship  in 
College. 

He  settled  as  a  lawyer  in  Springfield,  where  he  married 
on  February  9,  1791,  Sarah,  youngest  daughter  of  the  late 
Colonel  Josiah  D wight  (Yale  1736). 

On  relinquishing  the  practice  of  law  in  1810,  he  was 
appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
and  held  that  office  for  about  ten  years.  He  was  also 
Judge  of  Probate  from  1813  until  his  death,  was  president 
of  the  Springfield  Bank,  and  in  various  ways  exerted  an 
influence  that  extended  much  beyond  his  own  town  or 
county.  He  was  a  man  of  excellent  sense  and  great  prac- 
tical wisdom,  and  of  the  most  unyielding  integrity. 

He  was  for  many  years  a  deacon  in  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Springfield,  and  one  of  the  original  cor- 
porators of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Amherst  College 
from  its  incorporation  in  1821  until  his  death. 

He  died  in  Springfield  on  March  7,  1829,  in  his  68th 
year.  His  wife  died  there  on  September  5,  1842,  in  her 
78th  year. 

Their  children  were  six  sons  and  four  daughters,  of 
whom  one  son  and  one  daughter  died  in  infancy.  The 
other  sons  were  graduates  of  Yale.  The  two  daughters 
who  married  were  the  wives,  respectively,  of  Enoch  Hale 
(M.D.  Harvard  1813)  and  Frederick  A.  Packard  (Har- 
vard 1814). 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  223 

AUTHORITIES. 

[Anderson},  Memorial  Volume  of  Dwight     Family,     ii,     829,     844-45. 

the  first  fifty  years  of  the  American  Green,     Springfield,     1636-1886,    408. 

Board,    123-24.      Bridgman,    North-  Morris,    Hist,    of    the    1st    Church, 

ampton  Epitaphs,  119-20.     S.  Clark,  Springfield,  42,  47.    Pres.  Stiles,  Lit- 

Antiquities     of     Northampton,     314.  erary  Diary,  iii,  211. 


STEPHEN  TITUS  HOSMER,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Hon. 
Titus  Hosmer  (Yale  1757),  was  born  in  Middletown,  Con- 
necticut, on  January  10,  1763.  He  lost  his  father  towards 
the  end  of  his  Sophomore  year  in  College,  and  was  left 
mainly  dependent  on  his  own  efforts. 

He  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  William  Samuel  Johnson 
(Yale  1744),  of  Stratford,  and  with  his  guardian,  the 
Hon.  Oliver  Ellsworth,  of  Windsor;  and  about  1785 
began  practice  in  his  native  town.  He  very  early  acquired 
the  reputation  of  profound  knowledge  of  the  law,  and 
began  to  be  consulted  by  his  brethren  widely  on  specially 
abstruse  points.  He  twice  (in  1797  and  1800)  represented 
Middletown  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  in  1805  was 
elected  to  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Assistants,  which  he 
retained  until  his  appointment  as  a  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  the  State  in  1815.  After"  the  adoption  of  the  new 
Constitution  in  1818  the  number  of  judges  was  reduced, 
and  the  Court  advanced  in  dignity;  Judge  Hosmer  was 
made  Chief  Justice  and  so  continued  until  January,  1833, 
when  his  term  expired  by  limitation  of  age,  though  there 
was  no  perceptible  waning  of  his  powers. 

He  died  in  Middletown  on  August  6,  1834,  in  his  72d 
year. 

Judge  Hosmer  married,  on  January  4,  1785,  Lucia,  eld- 
est daughter  of  Major-General  Samuel  H.  Parsons  (Har- 
vard 1756),  of  Middletown,  who  died  on  February  28, 
1825,  aged  60  years.  They  had  four  sons  and  seven 
daughters. 

Judge  Hosmer  received  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D. 
from  this  College  in  1823. 


224  Yale  College 

His  personal  appearance  was  commanding,  his  deport- 
ment dignified,  his  manners  affable,  and  his  elocution  pol- 
ished and  graceful.  At  the  age  of  forty-three  he  united 
publicly  with  the  church,  in  which  he  had  already  been  for 
many  years  the  skilful  musical  leader.  As  a  judge  he  was 
a  model  of  learning,  impartiality,  and  dignity. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Field,  Centennial  Address  at  Mid-      alogy,  10.     Walworth,  Hyde  Geneal- 
dletown,  101-05.     Hist,  of  Litchfield        ogy,  ii,  911-12. 
County,  1881,  25-26.    Hosmer  Gene- 


JOSEPH  IVES  was  a  son  of  Captain  Titus  Ives,  of  Nor- 
folk, Connecticut,  and  was  prepared  for  College  by  his 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins. 

His  mother  was  Dorothy,  daughter  of  a  Captain  Hal- 
sey,  of  Long  Island. 

In  the  spring  of  his  Sophomore  year  he  joined  a  few 
other  students  in  withdrawing  from  College  in  order  to 
enter  the  school  taught  by  the  Rev.  Timothy  D wight  (Yale 
1769),  in  Northampton,  Massachusetts.  He  returned  to 
College,  however,  at  the- opening  of  the  Junior  year. 

After  graduation  he  remained  for  a  few  years  in  New 
Haven,  engaged  in  mercantile  business. 

A  deed  of  April,  1805,  on  record  in  New  Haven,  dis- 
poses of  property  inherited  by  Sally,  wife  of  Joseph  Ives, 
of  West  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  from  her  father,  an 
unnamed  New  Haven  resident. 

He  died  in  Norfolk  on  April  9,  1825,  aged  68  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  470,  476. 


WALTER  KING,  a  son  of  Lieutenant  William  King,  of 
Wilbraham,  Massachusetts,  an  emigrant  from  Suffield, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  November,  1758. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  225 

He  united  with  the  College  Church  on  profession  of 
faith  during  his  Sophomore  year.  During  the  early  part 
of  his  Senior  year  he  was  absent  on  account  of  poor  health. 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  after  graduation,  engaged 
in  the  study  of  theology.  From  1783  to  1785  he  served 
as  College  Butler;  and  during  a  part  of  the  year  1785  as 
Rector  of  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School.  His  preparation 
for  his  profession  was  hindered  by  ill  health,  but  he  was 
finally  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  County  Asso- 
ciation of  Ministers  on  May  30,  1786. 

In  1787  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Second 
Congregational  Church  in  the  neighborhood  called  Chel- 
sea, in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  which  was  then  reduced  to 
only  fourteen  members;  he  accepted  on  March  15  and 
was  ordained  and  installed  on  May  24,  with  an  annual 
salary  of  £135.  The  sermon  on  this  occasion  was  preached 
by  the  Rev.  Charles  Backus  (Yale  1769),  of  Somers. 

For  twenty-three  years  he  lived  in  peace  and  harmony 
with  his  people;  but  in  October,  1810,  a  marriage  between 
two  members  of  his  church,*  which  he  regarded  as  unlaw- 
ful, led  him  to  express  himself  in  such  terms  as  to  incur 
the  opposition  of  a  minority  in  the  church.  This  minority 
joined  the  Society  in  calling  a  meeting  for  the  dismission 
of  the  pastor,  which  was  voted  (32  to  19)  on  March  20, 
1811. 

A  council  of  distant  churches  and  ministers  voted,  after 
protracted  deliberation,  to  dissolve  the  pastoral  relation 
on  July  3,  1811. 

Soon  after  his  dismission  he  was  called  to  preach  in 
New  York  City  and  vicinity,  where  he  labored  for  nearly 
a  year.  Thence  he  journeyed  to  the  Western  counties  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  where  he  found  opportunity  of 
preaching  for  about  six  months. 

In  the  winter  of  1812-13  he  visited  Williamstown,  Mas- 
sachusetts, where  the  pulpit  of  the  Congregational  Church 

*  Jabez  Huntington  (Yale  1784)  had  married  his  deceased  wife's  sister. 


226  Yale  College 

was  vacant,  and  after  preaching  on  probation  for  several 
months  he  was  installed  as  pastor  on  July  7,  1813. 

In  August,  1815,  while  absent  on  a  journey,  he  was 
taken  very  ill,  but  recovered  sufficiently  to  resume  his 
usual  labors.  On  Friday,  the  ist  of  December,  1815,  he 
went  to  the  meeting-house  to  preach  a  lecture  preparatory 
to  the  communion ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  services  he  was 
attacked  with  an  apoplectic  fit.  He  was  carried  to  his 
own  house,  and  expired  at  evening,  about  three  and  a  half 
hours  after  his  seizure,  in  the  58th  year  of  his  age. 

He  was  a  sound  divine,  a  solemn  and  searching 
preacher,  and  eminently  a  man  of  prayer. 

He  married  in  New  Haven,  on  February  17,  1785, 
Sarah  Austin,  a  sister  of  the  Rev.  David  Austin  (Yale 
T779)-  She  was  born  in  July,  1763,  and  died  before  1800. 

After  her  death  he  married  Emilia,  the  youngest  child 
of  the  late  Captain  Nathaniel  Porter  (Yale  1754),  of 
Lebanon,  Connecticut,  born  1765. 

He  married  thirdly  Catharine,  eldest  child  of  Joshua 
and  Content  (Fanning)  Norman,  of  Norwich,  who  had 
first  married  (in  1787)  Asa  Peabody,  of  Norwich.  She 
survived  him  and  died  in  Williamstown  on  June  26,  1837, 
aged  76  years. 

Four  children  also  survived  him, — two  by  his  first  wife, 
and  two  by  his  second. 

He  published : 

1.  The   obligations   of   a   grateful   people   to  speak   the   praises 
of  God  for  His  abundant  goodness;   illustrated  in  a  Sermon  [from 
Ps.  cxlv,  7],  delivered  at  Chelsea  in  Norwich,  December  24th,  1795. 
Being  the  day  of  Public  Thanksgiving,  and  Dedication  of  a  House 
of  Worship,  lately  built  in  that  place.     Norwich,  1796.    8°,  pp.  26. 

[C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

2.  St.  Paul's  Manner  of  Preaching,  recommended  for  Imitation, 
in  a  Sermon  [from  I  Cor.  ii,  4]  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of  the 
Rev.  Daniel  Hall  ..  in  Sag-Harbor,  Long-Island:    Sept.  21,  1797. 
Norwich,  1798.    8°,  pp.  31. 

[B.  PubL    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  PubL  Libr.    U.  T.  S.    V.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  227 

3.  A  Discourse  [from  2  Sam.  i,  27],  delivered  in  Chelsea,  in  the 
City  of  Norwich,  Jan.  5,   1800,  as  a  token  of  humiliation  before 
God,  on  account  of  the  Death  of  Gen.  George  Washington  .  .     Nor- 
wich, 1800.    8°,  pp.  22. 

[C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ  Libr.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

4.  A  Farewell  Discourse  [from  Rom.  xiv,  10],  delivered  to  the 
Congregational  Church  and  Society  of  Chelsea,  in  Norwich,  (Con- 
necticut,)  August  18,  1811.     Together  with  an  Appendix,  giving 
some  Account  of  the  ground  of  difficulty  between  the  Pastor  and 
Society:    together  with  the  Result  of  Council.     New-York,   1811. 
8°,  pp.  38. 

[B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv.    U.  T.  S. 

In  a  manuscript  letter  of  Mr.  King,  written  in  November,  1810, 
to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull,  of  North  Haven,  and  now 
belonging  to  the  Yale  Library,  he  speaks  of  sending  therewith 
several  copies  of  "my  piece  on  Baptism" ;  but  this  has  not  been 
identified,  being  perhaps  an  anonymous  contribution  to  some 
periodical. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,  Porter  Genealogy,  ii,  244.  Panoplist,   xii,   141-42.     Pres.   Stiles, 

Bond,  Hist.  Discourse  at   the   looth  Literary  Diary,  ii,  395;    Hi,  71,   149, 

Anniversary  of  the  2d  Church,  Nor-  185,    264.      Sprague,    Annals    of    the 

wich,  22-26.     Caulkins,  Hist,  of  Nor-  Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  319.     Stebbins,  Hist, 

wich,   471,   552-54.     Descendants    of  Address      at      Wilbraham,      268-69. 

Col.   Joshua   Porter,   6.     Field,  etc.,  Welles,  Buell  Family,  108. 
Hist,     of     Berkshire     County,     411. 


JOHN  LOVETT  was  born  in  Newent  Society,  in  the  pres- 
ent township  of  Lisbon,  Connecticut,  on  February  20, 
1761,  and  was  prepared  for  College  at  Master  Tisdale's. 
famous  school  in  Lebanon.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Cap- 
tain Samuel  Lovett,  by  his  first  wife,  Abigail  Sprague,  of 
Lebanon. 

On  graduation  he  went  to  Albany,  New  York,  with 
Baldwin  of  the  previous  Class,  as  preceptor  in  an  academy ; 
but  after  a  year  spent  in  that  employment,  as  the  academy 
had  no  future,  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Major  Richard  Sill  (Yale  1775).  After  being  admitted 
to  practice  he  went  to  Fort  Miller,  the  extensive  country 
seat  of  Colonel  William  Duer,  on  the  Hudson,  some  forty 


228  Yale  College 

miles  north  of  Albany,  as  general  agent  and  land  steward, 
where  he  remained  until  1790  or  later. 

Thence  he  removed  to  Lansingburgh,  in  Rensselaer 
County,  where  he  enjoyed  many  years  of  prosperity  and 
happiness.  He  was  a  Member  of  the  State  Assembly  in 
1800  and  1801 ;  and  the  profits  of  his  professional  life 
enabled  him  to  purchase  a  number  of  beautiful  farms  on 
the  Hudson  river,  and  indulge  his  taste  for  agricultural 
pursuits. 

In  1807  he  removed  to  Albany,  and  resumed  the  associ- 
ations of  his  earlier  life.  As  an  ardent  Federalist  he  took 
an  active  part  in  the  political  controversies  of  the  day,  and 
he  also  continued  the  practice  of  the  law,  to  which  were 
added  the  duties  of  clerk  of  the  Common  Council,  until  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  of  1812. 

General  Stephen  VanRensselaer  was  appointed  to  com- 
mand the  troops  on  the  north-western  frontier,  and  at  his 
earnest  solicitation  Mr.  Lovett  was  induced  to  accompany 
him  as  military  secretary.  At  the  battle  of  Oueenstown, 
in  October,  1812,  he  received  an  injury  which  permanently 
affected  his  hearing. 

He  returned  to  Albany,  and  was  elected  a  Representa- 
tive in  Congress,  serving  from  May,  1813,  to  March,  1817. 

While  in  Washington  he  renewed  an  acquaintance  with 
the  Postmaster-General,  Governor  Return  J.  Meigs  (Yale 
1785),  who  called  his  attention  to  some  choice  tracts  of 
land  offered  at  public  sale,  with  the  result  that  he  pur- 
chased a  reservation  called  Twelve  Mile  Square,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Maumee  River,  at  the  western  end  of  Lake 
Erie,  and  containing  the  site  of  Fort  Meigs  which  had 
been  erected  in  the  late  war. 

On  leaving  Congress  he  began  the  settlement  of  the 
present  town  of  Perrysburg,  Ohio,  but  in  consequence  of 
a  protracted  illness  of  lake  fever,  brought  on  by  exposure, 
he  died  at  Fort  Meigs  on  August  12,  1818,  aged  58  years. 

He  married,  in  January,  1788,  Nancy,  eldest  daughter 
of  General  Samuel  and  Rachel  (Abbe)  McClellan,  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  229 

Woodstock,  Connecticut,  and  sister  of  John  McClellan 
(Yale  1785),  who  died  in  Albany,  on  October  6,  1843,  in 
her  /6th  year. 

They  had  eight  children,  of  whom  the  eldest  son  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1814. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bishop,  Hist.  Sketch  of  Lisbon,  53.       464;     iii,    29,    37.      Weaver,    Ancient 
Munsell,  Annals  of  Albany,  x,  451-       Windham  Genealogy,  19. 
54.     Pres.   Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii, 


MILES  MERWIN  was  a  native  of  the  present  township 
of  Woodbridge,  Connecticut. 

In  the  fall  of  1784  he  became  the  Rector  of  the  Academy 
in  Plainfield,  Windham  County,  Connecticut,  at  the  same 
time  pursuing  legal  studies. 

As  soon  as  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  he  settled  in 
Brooklyn,  in  the  same  county;  and  on  November  26,  1786, 
he  married  Polly,  eldest  daughter  of  Dr.  Elisha  and  Sarah 
(Douglas)  Perkins,  of  Plainfield  (born  August  12,  1765). 

He  also  engaged  in  mercantile  business  in  Brooklyn,  in 
which  he  was  unsuccessful,  and  soon  removed  to  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  practiced  law  until  the  epidemic  of  yellow 
fever  in  September,  1793,  to  which  he  and  his  wife  and 
their  two  or  three  children  all  fell  victims. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.   Marriages,  ii,       Hist,    of   Windham   County,   ii,   263, 
68.    Douglas  Genealogy,  115.    Lamed,      322,325-26. 


JAMES  NOYES,  the  youngest  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Noyes 
(Yale  1753),  was  born  in  New  Haven,  on  August  4,  1764. 
Two  elder  brothers  were  graduated  here,  in  1778  and  1779 
respectively,  and  two  half-brothers  in  1796.  His  father 
died  in  his  infancy,  and  his  mother  next  married  General 
Gold  S.  Silliman  (Yale  1752),  of  Fairfield. 


230  Yale  College 

He  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Western  Association  of  Fair  field  County  on  October  12, 
1784. 

On  May  4,  1785,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  in  Wal- 
lingford, Connecticut,  as  colleague  pastor  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  James  Dana  (Harvard  1753),  wno  was  tnen  m  verv 
feeble  health.  After  a  short  interval,  however,  the  senior 
pastor  recovered  his  full  strength,  and  in  February,  1789, 
he  accepted  a  call  to  New  Haven,  leaving  Mr.  Noyes  in 
sole  charge. 

He  continued  at  his  post  until  June  5,  1832,  when  his 
relation  to  his  people  was  dissolved  amicably  at  his  owrn 
request.  During  this  long  pastorate,  of  forty-seven  years, 
he  had  been  prevented  from  performing  his  public  duties 
by  ill  health  on  two  Sabbaths  only. 

He  continued  to  live  among  his  people  until  his  death, 
after  a  week's  illness  from  lung  fever,  on  February  18, 
1844,  in  his  8oth  year. 

He  married,  on  January  22,  1769,  Ann,  daughter  of 
Captain  John  and  Esther  (Nichols)  Holbrook,  of  Derby, 
Connecticut.  After  having  been  an  invalid  for  many 
years,  she  died  in  Wallingford  on  January  i,  1838,  in  her 
69th  year. 

Their  children,  of  whom  only  four  survived  their  par- 
ents, were  ten  daughters  and  four  sons. 

Mr.  Noyes  was  distinguished  for  sound  judgment  and 
discretion,  and  retained  to  the  last  the  warm  affection  of 
his  flock.  During  his  ministry  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
nine  persons  were  admitted  to  communion. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Campbell,  etc.,  Seymour,  past  and      Derby,  730.    Sprague,  Annals  of  the 
present,    146,   473.      Davis,   Hist,    of       Amer.   Pulpit,  i,  362-63,  566.      Pres. 
Wallingford,  291-96, 871.    New  Haven      Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,   155,   158- 
Palladium,  Jan.  20,  1838.     Noyes  Gen-       60,  341. 
ealogy,  ii,  89,  106.      Orcutt,  Hist,  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  231 

ASHER  ROBBINS,  the  eldest  son  and  second  child  of  Cap- 
tain Joshua  and  Sarah  Robbins,  of  Wethersfield,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Captain  Jonathan  and  Sarah 
(Welles)  Robbins,  of  Wethersfield,  was  born  on  October 
26,  1761. 

On  graduation  he  was  elected  a  Tutor  in  Rhode  Island 
College  (afterwards  Brown  University),  which  was  then 
just  rallying  from  the  interruptions  caused  by  the  war. 
He  continued  in  this  office  for  eight  years,  until  1790. 
Meantime  he  had  studied  law,  and  after  spending  the  next 
winter  in  Newport,  to  receive  instruction  from  the  Hon. 
William  Channing,  he  settled  in  practice  in  Providence; 
but  after  Mr.  Channing's  death  (in  1793)  he  returned  to 
Newport,  where  he  resided  during  the  rest  of  his  life. 

He  soon  found  himself  engaged  in  an  extensive  practice, 
which  for  many  years  absorbed  nearly  all  his  attention. 
He  served  as  Clerk  of  the  Rhode  Island  Assembly  at  the 
October  session  in  1795;  and  in  1812  was  appointed 
United  States  District  Attorney.  In  1818  he  was  pre- 
vailed upon  to  enter  public  life  as  a  member  of  the 
Legislature. 

His  services  there  proved  so  valuable  that  while  still  a 
member  of  that  body  he  was  elected  on  November  5,  1825, 
as  a  Whig,  to  fill  an  unexpired  term  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  where  he  continued  for  fourteen  years,  to  1839, 
when  he  declined  a  re-election.  One  of  his  colleagues  in 
the  Senate,  who  was  a  shrewd  observer,  said  of  him :  "He 
is  a  man  of  information  and  respectable  talents,  and  of 
political  courage  enough.  But  he  has  no  tact.  He  times 
nothing  well.  He  never  secures  attention,  and  his  influ- 
ence is  rather  of  the  negative  kind."  He  was  conspicuous, 
however,  for  his  fidelity  in  committee  work  and  in  the 
preparation  of  business  for  the  Senate. 

In  his  earlier  careej"  as  a  lawyer,  there  is  ample  testi- 
mony to  his  power  of  strict  legal  analysis  and  his  forensic 
and  rhetorical  gifts. 


232  Yale  College 

After  leaving  the  Senate  he  was  again  sent  to  the  State 
Legislature.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  Postmaster 
of  Newport. 

In  speaking  he  was  often  embarrassed  by  a  chronic  com- 
plaint of  the  lungs ;  and  he  was  afflicted  through  life  with 
extreme  lameness.  He  was  an  excellent  scholar,  espe- 
cially in  the  classics. 

He  married  in  Newport,  on  September  5,  1791,  Mary 
Ellery,  sister  of  Christopher  Ellery  (Yale  1787),  who  died 
in  Newport  on  November  17,  1831,  in  her  59th  year. 
Their  children  were  three  sons  and  five  daughters.  The 
second  daughter  married  a  son  of  William  Little  (Yale 
1777),  and  was  the  mother  of  Robbins  Little  (Yale  1851). 

He  died  in  Newport,  after  a  few  weeks'  illness,  on  Feb- 
ruary 25,  1845,  in  his  84th  year. 

His  portrait  is  preserved  in  Brown  University,  which 
gave  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1835. 

One  subject  which  engrossed  much  of  his  attention  at 
the  close  of  his  Senatorial  career  was  the  use  of  the  Smith- 
sonian legacy,  which  he  hoped  might  found  a  national 
university. 

He  published: 

1.  An  Address  to  the  Society,  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture, 
and  other  useful  Arts,  in  the  State  of  Rhode-Island  &  Providence 
Plantations,  at  their  Annual  Meeting,  holden  in  Providence,  on  the 
Second  Day  of  September,  A.  D.  1802.    Newport.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[B.  Ath.    M.  H.  S. 

The  Address  is  on  Agriculture.  The  President  of  the  Society 
was  the  Hon.  Jabez  Bowen  (Yale  1757). 

2.  Address  to  the  Rhode-Island  Society  for  the  Encouragement 
of  Domestic  Industry,  delivered  at  Pawtuxet,  October  i6th,  1822. 
Providence,  1822.     8°,  pp.  54. 

[A.  A.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     U.  S. 

On  the  benefits  and  practice  of  Agriculture. 

3.  In  Senate.     Speech  on  the  Panama  Mission.     March,   1826. 
12°,  pp.  21.  [B.'Publ.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

Containing  the  substance  of  his  Remarks  in  favor  of  sending 
delegates  to  the  Congress  of  American  Nations  at  Panama. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  233 

4.  Oration,  delivered  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  A.  D.  1827,  at  New- 
port, R.  I.     Providence,  1827.    8°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     U.  S. 

5.  Speech  in  the  Senate  United  States,  May  20,   1830,  on  Mr. 
Foot's  Resolution  respecting  a  Survey  of  Public  Lands.    Washing- 
ton, 1830.    8°,  pp.  ii. 

6.  Speech  in  defence  of  the  system  for  the  Protection  of  Amer- 
ican Industry. — Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  March 
2,  1832.    Washington,  1832.    8°,  pp.  14. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Publ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

7.  (In  conjunction  with  the  Hon.  Tristam  Burges.) 

A  Statement  of  some  leading  principles  and  measures  adopted  by 
General  Jackson,  in  his  Administration  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment; and  of  the  effects  of  those  Principles  and  Measures  on  the 
Union,  Prosperity  and  Constitution  of  the  American  People. — 
Addressed  to  the  Citizens  of  Rhode-Island,  in  answer  to  their  call 
on  the  Delegation  of  this  State  in  Congress.  Providence,  1832. 
8°,  pp.  12.  [Y.C. 

8.  A  Discourse  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  of  Brown 
University.     Delivered  September  third,  1834.     Boston,  1834.     8°, 
pp.  28.  [B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.     Bwm  Univ.     Harv.     U.  S. 

The  subject  is,  An  inquiry  into  the  means  of  giving  to  our 
country  the  glory  of  a  national  literature. 

9.  Speech,  on  French  Spoliations,  delivered  in  the  Senate,  Jan- 
uary 5,  1835.    8°,  pp.  8.  IB.  Publ.    M.  H.  S.    U.  S. 

In  favor  of  a  speedy  payment  of  these  claims. 

10.  Speech  on  the  Resolutions  respecting  Fortifications,  and  on 
the  Three  Million  Appropriation  of  the  last  Session,  delivered  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  February  18,  1836.     Washington,  1836. 
8°,  pp.  8.  [B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    M.  H.  S.    U.S. 

11.  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  to  whom  was  referred  the  memorial  of  David  Mel- 
ville, of  Newport.     [Washington.]      1836.     8°,  pp.  35. 

12.  Speech,   on   the   Joint   Resolution   reported   by   the   Library 
Committee,  to  purchase  the  Copy-right  of  Madison's  Manuscript 
Works,  described  in  said  Resolution.     Delivered  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  February  18,  1837.    Washington,  1837.    8°,  pp.  7. 

[Y.  C. 

13.  Speech  on  the  Sub  Treasury  Bill,  delivered  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  March  14,  1838.    Washington,  1838.    8°,  pp.  14. 


234  Yale  College 

14.  Speech  on  the  subject  of  an  Institution  to  be  founded  on 
the  Smithsonian  Legacy;  delivered  in  the  Senate  10  Jan.,  1839. 
Washington,  1839.  8°.  [Brit.  Mus. 

Other  writings  of  his  may  be  found  in  the  following: — 

Speech,  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  April  21, 
1830,  in  "Speeches  on  the  Passage  of  the  Bill  for  the  Removal  of 
the  Indians,"  Boston,  1830,  pp.  69-78; 

Remarks  on  George  Washington,  in  E.  S.  Thomas's  "Remin- 
iscences", Hartford,  1840,  vol.  i,  pp.  132-35. 

Plan  for  a  National  University;  and,  The  American  Revolution, 
in  Anne  C.  Lynch's  "Rhode-Island  Book",  Providence,  1841,  pp. 
109-16,  159-64. 

Remarks  on  the  Smithsonian  bequest,  in  W.  J.  Rhees's  "The 
Smithsonian  Institution",  Washington,  1901,  vol.  I,  pp.  163-69. 


AUTHORITIES. 

J.  Q.  Adams,  Diary,  x,  108-09.  79-  Mass.  Hist.  Society's  Proceed- 
Bartlett,  Bibliography  of  R.  I.,  232-  ings,  xix,  52-53.  Rhees,  Smithsonian 
33.  Channing,  Early  Recollections  of  Institution,  i,  163-69,  171-73,  181, 
Newport,  118.  Field,  State  of  Rhode  282-83,  308.  Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethers- 
Island,  i,  313-14,  323-25.  Guild,  Man-  field,  ii,  572,  574-75.  E.  S.  Thomas, 
ning  and  Brown  University,  329,  378-  Reminiscences,  i,  131-35;  ii,  166-68. 


EPHRAIM  ROOT,  the  second  son  and  third  child  of  Chief 
Justice  Jesse  Root  (Princeton  1756),  of  Coventry,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandchild  of  Ebenezer  and  Sarah  (Strong) 
Root,  of  Coventry,  was  born  on  October  6,  1762.  His 
mother  was  Mary  Banks,  of  Newark,  New  Jersey.  A 
younger  brother  was  graduated  in  1790. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1784,  and  settled  in  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  where  he  became  a  prominent  lawyer 
and  practiced  until  1812.  He  was  one  of  the  Representa- 
tives of  the  city  in  the  General  Assembly  at  seven  sessions 
between  1802  and  1810.  He  married  Eunice,  daughter  of 
Major  Elias  and  Sarah  Buell,  of  Coventry. 

They  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of  whom 
reached  maturity.  Two  of  the  sons  were  graduates  of 
Yale, — in  1806  and  1807,  respectively;  and  one  of  the 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  235 

daughters  was  the  mother  of  James  Root  Averill,  of  the 
Class  of  1830. 

He  died  in  Hartford  on  March  24,  1825,  in  his  63d  year. 

His  wife  died  on  May  20,  1819,  in  her  58th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dimock,    Coventry    Records,     100.       bull,    Memorial    Hist,    of    Hartford 
D wight,    Strong    Family,    i,    326-27.       County,  i,   123.     Welles,  Buell  Fam- 
Root  Genealogy,  144,  190-91.      Pres.      ily,  116. 
Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  305.     Trum- 


DAVID  SELDEN  was  born  in  Middle  Haddam,  a  parish 
in  the  present  town  of  Chatham,  Connecticut,  on  January 
14,  1761,  the  youngest  and  ninth  child  of  Thomas  and 
Rebecca  (Walkley)  Selden,  and  grandson  of  Thomas  and 
Sarah  Selden,  of  Haddam.  He  united  with  the  church 
there  in  May  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

He  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Samuel  Lockwood 
(Yale  1745),  of  Andover,  Connecticut,  and  was  licensed 
-to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South  Association  of  Ministers 
on  June  3,  1783. 

He  declined  in  1784  an  invitation  to  settle  in  Hebron, 
Connecticut,  as  colleague-pastor  with  the  aged  Rev.  Dr. 
Benjamin  Pomeroy  (Yale  1733) ;  and  a  little  later  he 
preached  as  a  candidate  in  Deerfield  and  in  Longmeadow, 
Massachusetts. 

In  the  meantime  the  pastor  of  his  native  parish,  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Boardman  (Yale  1758),  had  been  dismissed 
(in  September,  1783) ;  and  after  an  interval  Mr.  Selden 
was  invited  to  become  his  successor,  and  was  duly  ordained 
and  installed  on  October  19,  1785,  on  a  yearly  stipend  of 
£60  (or  $266.67). 

The  relation  thus  entered  upon  proved  a  happy  one,  and 
he  retained  to  the  end  the  unwavering  affection  of  his 
people.  In  1822,  during  a  season  of  religious  revival,  he 
overstrained  himself,  and  thenceforwards  he  continued  in 
feeble  health,  until  his  sudden  death,  from  bilious  colic,  on 


236  Yale  College 

January  18,  1825,  in  his  64th  year.  The  sermon  preached 
at  his  funeral,  by  the  Rev.  Isaac  Parsons  (Yale  1811),  of 
East  Haddam,  was  afterwards  published. 

In  this  sermon  Mr.  Parsons  describes  his  preaching  as 
uniformly  plain  and  solemn,  and  his  deportment  as  uniting 
mildness  and  meekness  of  disposition  with  fortitude  and 
stability  of  mind. 

He  married,  on  August  16,  1784,  Cynthia,  second 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Eleazer  May  (Yale  1752),  of  Had- 
dam. Their  children  wTere  five  sons  and  two  daughters,  all 
of  whom  survived  him.  The  elder  daughter  married  Dr. 
Ebenezer  Munger  (Yale  1814).  One  son  was  graduated 
at  Williams  College  in  1807,  and  became  a  clergyman. 

His  widow  died  on  March  29,  1850,  in  her  SQth  year. 

He  published : 

A  Sermon  [from  Luke  xxiii,  28],  delivered  at  the  Funeral  of 
Eliza  Metcalf,  February  loth,  1819.  Middletown,  1819.  8°,  pp.  15. 

[A.  C.  A. 

The  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  which  he  gave  at  the  ordination 
of  the  Rev.  Josiah  B.  Andrews  in  Killingworth,  in  April,  1802,  was 
published  (pp.  26-27)  in  connection  with  the  Sermon  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Abel  Flint  (Yale  1785). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Field,  Centennial  Address  at  Mid-  1884,  189.  May  Genealogy,  85,  89. 
dletown,  270.  Haddam  Church  2OOth  Sheldon,  Hist,  of  Deerfield,  ii,  773- 
Anniversary,  64-65,  69-70,  77,  176,  74.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii, 
307.  Hist,  of  Middlesex  County,  441. 


ZEPHANIAH  HOLLISTER  SMITH,  the  eldest  child  of  Isaac 
Smith,  of  Glastonbury,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Richard  and  Abigail  (Clark)  Smith,  was  born  in  Glaston- 
bury on  August  21,  1759.  His  mother  was  Ruth,  daugh- 
ter of  Zephaniah  and  Ruth  Hollister,  of  Glastonbury. 

He  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Hartford  South  Association  of  Ministers  on  June  3,  1783. 

In  March,  1786,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congre- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  237 

gational  Church  in  Newtown,  Connecticut;  but  he  soon 
adopted  extreme  New  Divinity  or  Sandemanian  views, 
and  administered  church  discipline  so  injudiciously,  that 
it  became  necessary  for  him  to  ask  a  dismission,  which 
was  granted  in  February,  1790. 

He  then  returned  to  Glastonbury,  settling  fn  the  dis- 
trict now  known  as  Buckingham,  studied  law  with  Jona- 
than Brace  (Yale  1779),  and  entered  on  practice,  which  he 
continued  to  be  engaged  in  until  1833. 

He  represented  the  town  in  the  State  Legislature  in  nine 
sessions  between  1796  and  1801. 

He  died  in  Glastonbury  on  February  I,  1836,  in  his  77th 
year. 

He  married  in  South  Britain,  a  parish  in  the  town  of 
Southbury,  Connecticut,  in  May,  1786,  Hannah  Hadassah, 
the  only  child  of  David  and  Abigail  (Johnson)  Hickok. 

Mr.  Smith  was  an  original  character,  and  his  wife  was 
a  woman  of  marked  ability  and  of  much  eccentricity.  She 
died  on  December  27,  1850,  in  her  84th  year. 

Their  children  were  five  daughters,  all  of  whom  lived 
to  an  advanced  age.  The  last  two  survivors  (Julia  E.  and 
Abby  H.  Smith)  achieved  notoriety  by  their  resistance  to 
taxation,  and  the  elder  of  these  was  also  known  by  her 
published  translation  of  the  Bible. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Case,  Hollister  Family,  731-34.  Fairfield  County,  465.  Pres.  Stiles, 
Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  Hist.  Literary  Diary,  iii,  344.  Trumbull, 
of  Conn.,  446-47.  Cothren,  Hist,  of  Memorial  Hist,  of  Hartford  County, 
Woodbury,  i,  567.  Hurd,  Hist,  of  i,  126;  ii,  216. 


LEWIS  BURR  STURGES,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Hon.  Jona- 
than Sturges  (Yale  1759),  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Connect- 
icut, on  March  15,  1763,  and  was  baptized  on  March  20. 

After  graduation  he  entered  on  a  mercantile  life  in  New 
Haven,  where  he  married  on  December  2,  1784,  Kezia, 
eldest  daughter  of  President  Ezra  Stiles,  who  died  in 


238  Yale  College 

giving  birth  to  a  dead  child  on  December  29,  1785,  in 
her  26th  year. 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  for  a  year  longer,  and  then 
removed  to  Fairfield,  where  he  soon  married  again,  and 
had  several  children. 

He  was  Clerk  of  the  Probate  Court  for  the  District  of 
Fairfield  from  1787  to  1791. 

He  represented  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly  at 
fifteen  sessions  between  1794  and  1803;  and  from  1805 
to  1817  was  a  Member  of  Congress. 

Soon  after  the  expiration  of  his  service  in  Congress 
he  removed  to  Ohio. 

He  died  in  Nor  walk,  Ohio,  on  March  30,  1844,  aged 
81  years. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Httrd,    Hist,    of    Fairfield    County,       erary    Diary,   iii,    143,    145,   204,   250, 
330.    Perry,  Old  Burying  Ground  of      256.     H.  R.  Stiles,  Stiles  Genealogy, 
Fairfield,     107.      Schenck,    Hist,    of       209. 
Fairfield,  ii,  499.    Pres.  E.  Stiles,  Lit- 


WILLIAM  ABDIEL  THOMPSON  was  born  in  Woodbury, 
Connecticut,  on  June  15,  1762,  the  eldest  child  of  Hezekiah 
Thompson,  a  respectable  lawyer  of  Woodbury,  and  grand- 
son of  James  and  Hannah  (Wilmot)  Thompson,  of  New 
Haven.  His  mother  was  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Isaac  and 
Rebecca  (Sherman,  Hollister)  Jttdson,  of  Woodbury. 
Two  of  his  brothers  were  graduates  of  Yale,  in  1789  and 
1790  respectively.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by  the 
Rev.  John  R.  Marshall,  the  Episcopal  minister  of  Wood- 
bury,  and  at  Yale  he  called  himself  an  Episcopalian. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  in  part  under  his 
father,  and  also  under  the  Hon.  John  Canfield  (Yale 
1762),  of  Sharon,  and  Matthew  Griswold,  of  Lyme,  after- 
wards Governor. 

In  1784  he  was  licensed  to  practice,  and  opened  an  office 
in  Norwalk,  Connecticut;  but  soon  removed  to  Horse- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  239 

neck,  in  Greenwich,  a  place  then  noted  for  litigiousness. 
Here  he  had  a  large  run  of  business,  the  profits  of  which 
laid  the  foundation  of  his  future  fortune,  and  here  he 
married,  on  July  17,  1785,  Frances  (or  Fanny),  daughter 
of  Israel  Knapp,  who  bore  him  two  sons  and  died  of  con- 
sumption on  June  n,  1789,  aged  20  years. 

He  next  desired  to  marry  a  sister  of  his  former  wife; 
and  as  such  a  marriage  in  Connecticut  would  incur  a 
severe  penalty,  he  decided  to  change  his  residence.  He 
consequently  settled  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was 
there  married  to  Amy  Knapp  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin 
Moore,  on  September  7,  1791. 

He  at  first  opened  a  law-office  in  partnership  with  Peter 
Masterton;  but  after  a  short  interval  dissolved  this  con- 
nection, and  practiced  alone  with  considerable  success. 
Fearing,  however,  a  nervous  break-down  on  account  of 
lack  of  exercise,  he  purchased  in  1794  large  tracts  of  land 
in  what  is  now  Sullivan  County,  about  seventy-five  miles 
northwest  of  the  city,  and  in  the  Spring  of  1795  removed 
to  a  settlement  afterwards  named  Thompson  out  of  com- 
pliment to  him,  where  he  maintained  an  ample  residence 
and  dispensed  profuse  hospitality. 

In  April,  1805,  he  was  appointed  First  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Ulster  County,  and  discharged 
these  duties  creditably  until  Sullivan  County  was  erected, 
when  he  became  (in  June,  1809)  its  Chief  Judge,  and  so 
remained  until  disqualified  by  age  in  1822. 

Besides  attending  to  his  official  duties  he  carefully 
improved  his  extensive  landed  estate.  In  the  Spring  of 
1806  he  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  of  the  Republican 
party  for  Congress. 

In  the  Spring  of  1811  he  visited  Europe,  and  spent  sev- 
eral months  in  France  and  England. 

In  1839  an  injury  to  his  head  received  in  falling  from 
his  horse  brought  on  a  partial  paralysis,  which  affected 


240  Yale  College 

him  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  died  at  his  residence,  in 
Thompsonville,  on  December  9,  1847,  m  ms  86th  year. 

His  second  wife  bore  him  six  daughters  and  one  son, 
and  died  on  August  13  (or  15),  1807,  in  her  36th  year. 

He  next  married,  on  March  3,  1809,  Charity,  daughter 
of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  Guyer,  and  widow  of  Shadrach 
Reed,  of  Thompson.  She  had  by  Judge  Thompson  five 
daughters  and  one  son,  and  died  of  fever  in  1842. 

Three  articles  from  his  pen  were  published  in  The 
American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  edited  by  Profes- 
sor Silliman,  as  follows : — 

1.  Scratches  on  elevated  strata  of  horizontal  graywacke  in  the 
Alleghany  range.     Vol.  20,  pp.  124-25.     1831. 

2.  Facts  relating  to  Diluvial  Action.    Vol.  23,  pp.  243-49.     1833. 

3.  On  the  Vitality   of   Toads,   etc.   enclosed   in   firm   materials. 
Vol.  25,  pp.  41-47.     1834. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Cothrcn,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  731,       County,   515-22.     Pres.   Stiles,  Liter- 
733-34-      Quintan,   Hist,    of    Sullivan      ary  Diary,  ii,  521. 


EZRA  WAITE,  the  youngest  child  of  Captain  Richard 
and  Rebecca  (Higgins)  Wait,  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Thomas  and  Mary  Wait,  of  Lyme,  was  born 
in  that  town  on  May  31,  1763.  The  Hon.  Henry  M.  Waite 
(Yale  1809)  was  his  nephew. 

After  graduation  he  returned  to  his  native  town,  and 
married,  on  February  23,  1792,  Lucy,  daughter  of  Ezra 
Miller. 

He  was  an  officer  in  the  local  militia,  and  attained  the 
rank  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  (of  the  33d  Regiment)  in 
1796. 

His  wife  died  on  November  24,  1796,  and  he  next  mar- 
ried Catharine,  daughter  of  Reuben  Chadwick. 

He  settled,  at  least  as  early  as  1807,  in  that  part  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  241 

Bloomfield,  Ontario  County,  New  York,  which  was  incor- 
porated in  1833  as  West  Bloomfield. 

He  was  one  of  the  earliest  postmasters  of  West  Bloom- 
field,  and  died  there  on  August  30,  1838,  in  his  76th  year. 
His  wife  died  in  West  Bloomfield  on  April  28,  1828,  aged 
54  years. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  two  sons;  the  younger  died  in 
infancy,  and  the  elder  became  a  general  in  the  United 
States  army. 

By  his  second  wife  he  had  several  children,  all  of  whom 
died  unmarried  except  one  son.  Two  daughters  and  two 
sons,  who  died  before  their  father,  are  buried  beside  him. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Rev.  Newton  W.  Bates,  MS.  Letter,      Hon.    Richard    Waite,    MS.    Letter, 
Oct.  4, 1905.    Ely  Ancestry,  175.    His-      Aug.  17,  1905. 
tory   of    Ontario    County,    1876,    218. 


SELDEN  WARNER  was  a  son  of  Jonathan  Warner,  of 
Hadlyme  Parish,  in  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Andrew  Warner.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Joseph  Selden,  Junior,  of  Haddam. 

He  became  a  physician  in  Hadlyme,  and  married  in 
1788  his  second  cousin  Dorothy,  youngest  daughter  of 
Colonel  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Ely)  Selden,  of  Lyme,  who 
died  in  1825,  at  the  age  of  57. 

He  died  in  Hadlyme,  from  paralysis,  on  March  i,  1843, 
aged  82  years.  His  children  were  seven  sons  and  two 
daughters.  One  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1817,  who 
followed  his  father's  profession;  and  a  granddaughter 
married  Chief  Justice  Morrison  R.  Waite  (Yale  1837). 


AUTHORITIES. 
Ely  Ancestry,  99,    178-80.     Walworth,   Hyde   Genealogy,   i,   265. 


16 


242  Yale  College 

JOHN  WILLARD,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Willard  (Harvard  1751),  of  Stafford,  Connecticut,  and 
nephew  of  President  Willard  of  Harvard,  was  born  in 
Stafford  on  November  19,  1759.  His  mother  was  Lydia, 
third  daughter  of  General  Joseph  and  Mary  (Pynchon) 
Dwight,  of  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts.  He  entered 
College  towards  the  close  of  the  Sophomore  year  (in  July, 
1780). 

He  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Hartford  South  Association  of  Ministers  in  February, 
1784. 

During  most  of  the  year  1785  he  preached  in  the  Con- 
gregational Church  at  New  Lebanon  Springs,  Columbia 
County,  New  York. 

Thence  he  came  to  Meriden,  then  part  of  Wallingford, 
Connecticut,  where  he  received  a  call  to  settle  as  colleague 
pastor  with  the  Rev.  John  Hubbard  (Yale  1744)  early  in 
1786,  on  a  salary  of  £100.  His  settlement  was  opposed 
by  a  minority,  on  account  of  doctrinal  dissatisfaction,  but 
he  was  ordained  and  installed  on  June  21,  1786.  The  dis- 
satisfaction continued  and  increased;  and  the  congrega- 
tion diminished  to  such  an-  extent  that  he  was  obliged  to 
take  a  dismission  in  May,  1802. 

On  March  31,  1803,  he  was  installed  as  pastor  of  a  Con- 
gregational Church  of  sixteen  members,  which  he  had 
helped  to  organize  the  year  before,  in  Lunenburg,  on  the 
Connecticut  River,  in  north-eastern  Vermont.  During 
his  ministry  one  hundred  and  forty-four  persons  united 
with  the  Church.  In  1810  a  very  general  revival  of  relig- 
ion prevailed,  and  about  seventy  were  added.  There 
were  several  other  partial  revivals  during  his  connection 
with  the  congregation,  which  was  not  formally  dissolved 
until  February,  1822.  During  these  years,  as  his  salary 
was  inadequate  to  his  support,  he  performed  several  mis- 
sionary tours  under  the  direction  of  the  Connecticut,  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  Vermont  Missionary  Societies.  He  had  a 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  243 

natural  inclination  to  the  study  of  medicine,  and  during 
these  tours  had  occasion  to  be  useful  in  this  way,  with  the 
result  that  he  eventually  entered  regularly  upon  practice. 
He  did  not  wholly  relinquish  preaching  for  several  years 
after  this,  but  the  state  of  his  health  made  it  necessary  for 
him  to  do  so,  some  time  before  his  pastoral  relation  was 
severed. 

He  was  very  tall  and  slender  in  appearance,  and  his 
preaching,  while  soundly  orthodox,  partook  of  the  mild- 
ness and  gentleness  which  were  an  essential  part  of  his 
character. 

He  died  in  Lunenburg  on  June  20,  1826,  in  his  67th 
year. 

He  married  on  January  17,  1788,  Huldah  Lankton,  of 
Berlin,  Connecticut,  who  died  on  May  9,  1842. 

Their  children  were  three  sons  (two  of  whom  died  in 
infancy)  and  two  daughters. 

The  younger  daughter  married,  as  his  second  wife,  the 
Rev.  John  Ingersoll  (Middlebury  College  1821),  the  father 
of  the  Hon.  Robert  G.  Ingersoll. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Quarterly  Register,  xiii,  448,  Genealogy,  ii,  681-82.  Hemenway, 
450.  Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  Vt.  Hist.  Gazetteer,  i,  1023-24.  Per- 
iv,  9.  Conn.  Evangelical  Magazine,  kins,  Hist.  Sketches  of  Meriden,  60- 
iv,  329;  2d  series,  vii,  26.  Davis,  61.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii, 
Hist,  of  Wallingf ord,  228-30.  Dwight  440,  456 ;  iii,  209,  228. 


NATHAN  WILLIAMS,  Junior,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Nathan  Williams  (Yale  1755),  of  Tolland,  Connect- 
icut, was  born  in  Tolland  in  November,  1761. 

In  May,  1783,  he  was  offered  the  post  of  College  Butler, 
but  seems  to  have  declined  it. 

Nothing  further  is  known  of  his  history  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  on  December  16, 
1784,  at  the  age  of  23. 


244 


A  poetical  Elegy  occasioned  by  his  death  is  printed  in 
the  New  Haven  newspaper  of  April  21,  1785. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Journal,  March  9  and  April       ii,  298;   iii,  71,  153.     Williams  Family, 
21,  1785.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,      90. 


SAMUEL  WOODRUFF,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Sam- 
uel Woodruff,  of  Southington  Parish,  then  part  of  Far- 
mington,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Captain  Samuel 
and  Esther  (Bird)  Woodruff,  of  Southington,  was  born 
on  February  19,  1760.  His  mother  was  Ruth,  eldest 
daughter  of  Moses  and  Ruth  (Gay lord)  Lyman,  of  South- 
ington. 

In  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1777  he  was  enrolled  in 
the  State  militia,  and  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Bemis's 
Heights,  shortly  before  Burgoyne's  surrender. 

He  studied  law,  and  in  1786  began  practice  in  Walling- 
ford,  Connecticut,  which  he  represented  in  the  General 
Assembly  in  two  sessions  (1793-94). 

In  1802  he  removed  to  his  native  place,  and  there  also 
he  acted  as  Representative  at  three  sessions,  in  1805-06. 

In  1809  he  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Hartford 
County  Court,  and  in  the  same  year  he  removed  to  Tur- 
key Hills  Parish,  in  the  present  township  of  East  Granby. 

He  retained  the  judgeship  for  nine  years,  and  in  1827 
he  removed  to  Windsor,  Connecticut,  where  he  remained 
in  practice  for  about  three  years. 

In  May,  1828,  he  sailed  from  New  York,  in  the  brig 
Herald,  as  agent  of  the  Committee  in  New  York  City,  to 
distribute  a  cargo  of  provisions  and  clothing,  which  had 
been  contributed  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  country,  to  the 
distressed  Greeks ;  and  having  satisfactorily  accomplished 
his  mission  he  returned  home  in  the  Spring  of  1829. 

He  was  strictly  temperate  throughout  a  long  life,  and 
remarkably  active  and  industrious  in  body  and  mind.  He 


Biographical  Sketches,  1782  245 

read  extensively,  and  to  the  last  was  familiar  with  the 
news  and  literature  of  the  day. 

He  died  suddenly,  at  his  home  in  Windsor,  on  November 
25,  1850,  in  his  Qist  year,  and  was  buried  with  his  ances- 
tors in  Southington. 

He  married,  on  May  25,  1784,  Esther,  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain Ambrose  and  Sarah  (Root)  Sloper,  of  Southington, 
who  died  on  December  29,  1807,  in  her  47th  year,  having 
borne  him  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 

He  next  married  Chloe  Phelps,  of  Granby.  By  this 
marriage  he  had  one  daughter  (born  in  July,  1810). 

A  letter  written  in  his  old  age,  suggested  by  a  visit  to 
Stillwater  and  Saratoga,  is  quoted  in  the  Appendix  to 
C.  Neilson's  Account  of  Burgoyne's  Campaign,  Albany, 
1844,  pp.  249-59. 

He  published : 

Journal  of  a  Tour  to  Malta,  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  Carthage, 
Algiers,  Port  Mahon,  and  Spain,  in  1828. — To  which  is  appended 
an  account  of  the  distribution  of  the  cargo  of  provisions  and 
clothing  to  the  suffering  Greeks,  by  the  Agents  of  the  Greek  Com- 
mittee of  the  City  of  New  York,  sent  in  the  Brig  Herald,  May, 
1828.  Hartford,  1831.  sm.  8°,  pp.  283.  [Brit.  Mus.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Robinson,    Memoir    of    Rev.    Wtn.       446,  ccxxviii,  cclxii,  cclxv.    Trumbull, 
Robinson,  109,  125.    Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,       Hist,  of  Hartford  County,  i,  126.     S. 
Literary  Diary,  ii,  346.    H.  R.  Stiles,      H.    Woodruff,   MS.   Letter,   June   9, 
Hist,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  i,  374,  452.       1852. 
Timlow,   Hist,    of    Southington,   6-7, 


246  Yale  College 


Annals,    1782—83 


The  opening  of  the  College  in  October  was  deferred 
for  three  weeks  on  account  of  the  unfinished  condition  of 
the  new  Dining  Hall,  which  had  been  begun  just  before 
Commencement,  and  which  was  used  after  1819  as  a 
chemical  laboratory.  Previous  to  this  the  dining  hall  had 
been  in  the  south  end  of  the  Old  College,  which  was  demol- 
ished the  week  after  the  Commencement  of  1782. 

The  conclusion  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  made  this 
year  memorable;  and  a  forerunner  of  this  event  was  the 
return  of  the  College  Library  and  apparatus  in  November 
from  the  asylum  to  which  they  had  been  taken  five  or  six 
years  before. 

Tutor  Zebulon  Ely  (Yale  1779)  retired  from  the  office 
after  a  year's  service,  in  November,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  classmate,  Matthew  Talcott  Russell.  In  March  Tutor 
Meigs  (Yale  1778)  withdrew,  and  his  place  was  taken  by 
Thomas  Chester  (Yale  1780),  who  served  only  until 
Commencement,  at  which  date  Tutor  Elizur  Goodrich 
(Yale  1779)  also  resigned. 

A  series  of  twelve  articles,  severely  critical  of  the  Col- 
lege, appeared  in  the  Connecticut  Courant,  published  at 
Hartford,  in  February-May,  1783.  They  bore  the  title 
"Parnassus",  and  from  internal  evidence  some  of  them 
seem  to  have  been  written  by  friends  of  Professor  Strong, 
recently  dismissed.  Possibly  the  Rev.  Dr.  Timothy 
Dwight,  of  Greenfield,  had  a  hand  in  the  composition. 
The  chief  point  argued  is  in  favor  of  the  admission  of 
civilians  into  the  Corporation;  there  are  also  objections 
to  the  College  Church  and  to  the  maintenance  of  a  sep- 
arate congregation,  and  animadversions  on  the  manner  in 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  247 

which  the  Corporation  have  administered  their  trust,  in 
the  case  of  Professor  Strong  and  otherwise. 

In  May  the  Corporation  took  advantage  of  the  fact 
that  Ebenezer  Fitch  (Yale  1777),  lately  a  Tutor,  was 
embarking  for  Europe,  to  give  him  a  circular  letter  ask- 
ing for  benefactions  to  the  College,  in  money  or  books, 
which  he  was  empowered  to  receive;  little,  however,  was 
realized  from  this  source. 


Sketches,   Class  of  1783 


*Samuel  Austin,  A.M.  et  Neo-Caes.  1785,  S.T.D.  • 

Guilielm.  1807,  Univ.  Viridim.  Praeses  "1830 

*Jehu  Brainerd  "1813 

*Daniel  Brown,  A.M.  1791  *i8o2 

*Matthaeus  Cole  *i8io 

*Abisaeus  Colt  on  '1823 

*Thaddaeus  Cook  *I799 

*David  Daggett,  A.M.,  LL.D.  1827,  Soc.  ex  off., 

Rerumpubl.  Foed.  Sen.,  Jurisprud.  Prof.,  Reip. 

Conn.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  Princ.  "1851 

*Ebenezer  Dimon,  1784  *i84i 

*  Johannes  Fellows  *i844 

*  Andreas  Fowler,  A.M.  1793  "1850 

*  Jonathan  Fuller  *I786 
*Hezekias  Gilbert 

*Samuel  Goodrich,  A.M.. 

*Orchard  Gould,  A.M.  "1819 

*  Uriel  Gridley  "1820 
*Isaacus  Griggs  *i8i6 
*Abiel  Holmes,  A.M.  et  Harv.  1792,  S.T.D.  Edinb. 

1805,  LL.D.  Alleg.  1822,  Tutor  "1837 


248  Yale  College 

*Samuel  Russell  Jocelin,  A.M.  *i8i7 

*Robertus  Carolus  Johnson,  A.M.  et  Columb.  1788  *i8o6 

*Ebenezer  Kingsbury,  A.M.  *i842 

*Elija  Leonard,  A.M.  *i834 

*Sethus  Lewis,  A.M.  *i8o8 

*Lynde  Lord,  A.M.  *i8i3 

*Josephus  Lyman,  A.M.  1833  .  *i&47 

*Josias  Masters,  A.M.,  e  Congr.  *i822 

*  Jonathan  Merrick  *i8i2 
*Jedidias  Morse,  A.M.  et  Neo-Caes.  1787,  S.T.D. 

Edinb.  1794,  Tutor  *i826 

*Amos  Pearce  *i?98 

*Samuel  Penfield  *I79I 

*Noachus  Amherst  Phelps 
*Theodorus  Pitkin,  A.M. 
*Edvardus  Selden 

*  Johannes   Cotton    Smith,   A.M.,    LL.D.    1815,   e 

Congr.,  Reip.  Conn.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  et  Vice- 

Gubern.  et  Gubern.,  Socius  ex  officio 
*Isaacus  Stiles,  A.M.  *I795 

*Richardus  S alter  Storrs,  A.M.  *i8i9 

*  Johannes  Warner,  A.M.  *i8i2 
*Stephanus  Weed                                                           *i?85 
*Samuel  Welles 

*Carolus  Coomer  White,  A.M. 

*Stephanus  Williams,  A.M.  *i822 

*Payson  Williston,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  Amh.  1854  *i8s6 

*Thomas  Goodsell  Wolcott,  1784 


SAMUEL  AUSTIN,  the  eldest  child  of  Samuel  Austin,  of 
New  Haven,  and  grandson  of  Lieutenant  David  and 
Rebekah  (Thompson)  Austin,  of  New  Haven,  was  born 
on  October  7,  1760.  His  mother  was  Lydia,  only  child 
of  Dr.  Alexander  W^olcott  (Yale  1731)  by  his  first  wife, 
Lydia  Atwater,  of  New  Haven. 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  249 

In  the  early  years  of  the  Revolution  he  served  in  the 
army,  as  a  substitute  for  his  father,  and  then  spent  some 
time  in  teaching  school.  He  finally  began  the  study  of 
law  with  Judge  Charles  Chauncey,  of  New  Haven,  but 
finding  the  need  of  a  more  complete  education,  he  took  up 
classical  studies  and  secured  admission  to  College  in 
March  of  the  Sophomore  year.  In  the  following  July  he 
joined  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  faith.  He 
was  specially  distinguished  in  College  as  a  linguist. 

At  graduation  he  was  elected  to  the  Berkeley  Scholar- 
ship ;  and  during  the  ensuing  year  he  pursued  theological 
studies  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jonathan 
Edwards,  of  New  Haven,  while  teaching  an  English  and 
Grammar  School. 

He  then  took  charge  of  an  academy  recently  founded  in 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  and  on  October  12,  1784,  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Windham  Association  of  Min- 
isters. He  soon  after  declined  an  invitation  to  settle  in 
Hampton,  Connecticut,  as  colleague  pastor. 

In  the  autumn  of  1785  he  resigned  his  position,  having 
enjoyed  unusual  popularity  as  a  teacher. 

Soon  after  this  he  received  a  unanimous  invitation  to 
settle  in  the  Middle  Dutch  Church  in  New  York  City,  as 
colleague  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  H.  Livingston  (Yale 
1762)  ;  but  he  declined,  because  that  church  still  practiced 
the  half-way  covenant. 

In  the  autumn  of  1786  he  received  a  unanimous  call  to 
settle  with  the  Fair  Haven  Church  in  New  Haven,  which 
had  lost  its  pastor,  the  Rev.  Allyn  Mather  (Yale  1773), 
in  November,  1784.  He  accepted  the  call,  with  £150  sal- 
ary, and  was  ordained  there  on  November  9,  1786. 

His  theology  was,  like  that  of  Dr.  Edwards,  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  most  advanced  school  of  what  was  then 
called  the  "New  Divinity",  and  he  was  disposed  to  admin- 
ister discipline  rigidly  in  conformity  with  these  doctrines. 
His  congregation  soon  began  to  dwindle,  and  early  in 
December,  1789,  a  separation  was  mutually  agreed  upon. 


250  Yale  College 

Mr.  Austin  was  dismissed  by  a  council  on  January  19, 
1790. 

The  First  (Congregational)  Church  in  Worcester, 
Massachusetts,  having  heard  of  his  intended  resignation, 
had  given  him  a  call  before  his  dismission,  and  he  at  once 
removed  thither.  On  March  22,  1790,  he  was  formally 
invited  to  settle  on  a  salary  of  £130.  He  accepted  the  call, 
and  was  installed  on  September  30. 

Notwithstanding  .some  uneasiness  at  his  outspoken 
political  views,  he  retained  in  general  the  regard  of  his 
parishioners,  and  was  eminently  useful  in  his  office.  The 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  conferred  on  him  by 
Williams  College  in  1807. 

In  1815  he  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Vermont,  at  Burlington,  which  had  been  suspended 
during  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  he  was  induced 
to  believe  that  it  was  his  duty  to  accept  the  presidency  in 
the  effort  to  rehabilitate  the  institution. 

His  church  and  parish  voted  him  leave  of  absence  on 
June  12,  1815,  and  he  was  publicly  inducted  into  his  new 
office  on  July  26.  His  relation  to  the  Worcester  Church 
was  not  formally  dissolved  until  December  23,  1818. 

As  President  he  accomplished  all  that  could  be  reason- 
ably expected,  but  his  own  anticipations  were  not 
answered,  and  he  resigned  his  office  in  March,  1821,  to 
return  to  the  work  of  the  ministry. 

He  then  removed  to  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  having 
offered  to  take  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  feeble  congre- 
gation to  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins  (Yale  1741) 
had  formerlv  ministered.  For  four  years  he  labored  there 

*>  J 

with  earnestness;  but  in  1825  the  approaching  infirmities 
of  age  and  the  perceptible  failure  of  his  health  induced  him 
to  resign,  and  he  returned  to  Worcester  to  make  his  home 
in  the  family  of  a  nephew  of  his  wife,  who  had  been 
adopted  and  educated  as  his  own  son. 

But  immediately  after  his  arrival  this  nephew  died  sud- 
denly (in  September,  1825),  and  Dr.  Austin  was  involved 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  251 

in  perplexing  business  cares,  for  which  he  was  physically 
unequal. 

In  consequence  he  sank  rapidly  into  a  state  of  incurable 
melancholy  and  religious  depression,  in  which  he  continued 
until  relieved  by  death.  In  March,  1827,  he  went  to 
Northampton,  Massachusetts,  to  spend  a  year  with  a 
brother  of  Mrs.  Austin,  and  thence  he  removed  in  the 
summer  of  1828  to  the  house  of  a  nephew  of  Mrs.  Austin, 
the  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Riddel  (Yale  1823),  of  Glastonbury, 
Connecticut,  where  he  died  on  December  4,  1830,  in  his 
/  ist  year. 

The  sermon  preached  at  his  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Caleb  J.  Tenney,  of  Wethersfield,  was  afterwards  pub- 
lished, and  contains  a  discriminating  sketch  of  his  life 
and  character. 

He  married  on  September  14,  1788,  Jerusha,  third 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins  (Yale  1749),  of 
Hadley,  Massachusetts,  who  died  in  Glastonbury  on  March 
28,  1841,  in  her  79 th  year.  They  had  no  children. 

As  a  preacher  Dr.  Austin  was  ranked  among  the  most 
able,  eloquent,  and  popular  divines  of  his  day.  He  was 
regarded  by  all  who  knew  him  as  an  eminently  spiritual 
and  godly  man,  and  was  forward  and  active  in  all  benevo- 
lent enterprises.  He  was  very  instrumental  in  originating 
the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts  Ministers,  and 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  formation  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Missionary  Society,  in  which  he  held  the  offices  of 
Trustee  and  Secretary  until  he  left  the  State. 

He  published: 

1.  A  Funeral  Oration,  on  Mr.  David  Ripley,  of  Windham;    a 
Junior    Sophister    in    Yale-College:     who    died    June    nth,    1782. 
/Etat.   22.     Pronounced   in  the  College   Chapel,   July    nth,    1782. 
New-Haven,  1783.     sq.  8°,  pp.  12.  [A.  A.  S. 

This  includes  a  poetical  Elegy. 

2.  The  nature  and  happiness  of  that  habitual  preparation   for 
death,    which    the    uncertainty    of    life    demands,    illustrated    and 
urged. — A  Funeral  Sermon  [from  Rev.  xvi,  15],  delivered  at  Exe- 


252  Yale  College 

ter  [Connecticut],  on  the  tenth  of  April,  seventeen  hundred  and 
ninety,  as  a  Religious  improvement  of  a  singular  and  very  afflic- 
tive Providence,  which  removed  by  Death  two  Young  Persons, 
Benjamin  Smith,  Jun.  and  Mary  Smith,  a  Son  and  Daughter  of 
Major  Benjamin  Smith,  of  Exeter,  who  both  died  of  a  Consump- 
tion on  the  Morning  of  April  8th,  1790.  Exeter,  1790.  8°,  pp.  29. 

[A.  A.  S.     And  over  Theol.  Sem. 

3.  Disinterested  Love,  the  Ornament  of  the  Christian,  and  the 
Duty  of  Man.     A  Sermon   [from  Phil,  ii,  4],  Delivered  at  New- 
York,  June  5,  1790.  .  .     New- York,  1791.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

4.  The  Manner  in  which  the  Gospel  should  be  heard,  and  the 
importance  of  hearing  it  rightly,  illustrated  and  urged,  in  a  Dis- 
course [from  Luke  viii,  18],  preached  in  Worcester,  on  the  Lord's 
Day  immediately  succeeding  his  Installation,  September  29th,  1790. 
Worcester,  1791.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Y.  C. 

5.  The  most  promising  life,   and  death,   closely   connected. — A 
Sermon   [from  John  xix,  41],  delivered  at  Worcester,  November 
4th,  1792,  the  Sabbath  subsequent  to  the  death  and  interment  of 
Miss  Hannah  Blair,  who  died  of  the  small  pox.     Worcester,  1794. 
8°,  pp.  21.  [A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv. 

6.  A  Sermon  [from  Judges  iii,  9-11],  delivered  at  Worcester,  on 
the  Day  of  Public  Thanksgiving,  .  .December  I5th,  1796.     Worces- 
ter, 1797.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  A.   S.     A.   C.   A.      B.  Ath.     Bowdoin   Coll.      Brit.   Mus. 
Brown  Univ.     Harv.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

7.  The  Nature,  Extent,  and  Importance,  of  the  Duty,  binding  on 
the  Christian  Minister,  divinely  commissioned  to  bear  the  Warnings 
of  God  to  Men:    illustrated  in  a  Sermon  [from  Ezekiel  xxxiii,  7], 
preached  in  Fitchburgh,  Massachusetts,  on  the  27th  day  of  Septem- 
ber, 1797,  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester;    and 
again,  by  particular  request,  in  Granville,  in  the  State  of  New- York, 
on  the  4th  day  of  the  following  October,  at  the  Ordination  of  the 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Hall.  .  .     Worcester,  1798.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     Y.  C. 

8.  An  Oration,  pronounced  at  Worcester,  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1798.  .  .     Worcester,  1798.     8°,  pp.  38. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv. 
M.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  253 

9.  The    Evangelical    Preacher,    a    faithful,    and    an    affectionate 
Preacher  of  Christ. — A  Sermon  [from  2  Cor.  iv,  5],  delivered  at 
the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Leonard  Worcester,    .  .    in  Peacham, 
Vermont,  October  3Oth,  1799.     Peacham,  1800.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-27.     Mr.  Worcester  had  long  been  a 
valued  parishioner  of  Dr.  Austin. 

10.  The  diffusion  of  correct  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  a  lead- 
ing object  of  the  Christian  Ministry. — A  Sermon  [from  Acts  xvii, 
23],  delivered  at  the  Tabernacle  in  Salem,  April  20,  1803,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Installation  of   the  Reverend   Samuel   Worcester 
into  the  pastoral  office.  .  .     Salem,  1803.     8°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     U.  S. 
Y.  C. 

11.  Christians  bound  to  spread  the  Gospel  among  all  descriptions 
of  their  fellow  men: — A  Sermon  [from  Rom.  i,  14-15],  preached 
before  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society,  at  their  Annual  Meet- 
ing in  Boston,  May  24th,  1803.  . . .     Salem,  1803.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.   A.   S.      B.   Ath.     Brit.   Mus.     Brown    Univ.     M.   H.   S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-24. 

12.  An  Examination  of  the  Representations  and  Reasonings  con- 
tained in  Seven  Sermons,  lately  published,  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Mer- 
rill, on  the  Mode  and  Subjects  of  Baptism.  . . .     Worcester,  1805. 
16°,  pp.  108. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Brown  Univ.     M.  H.  S. 
U.  S.     Y.  C. 

13.  Mr.  Merrill's  Defensive  Armor  taken  from  him:   or  a  reply 
to  his  Twelve  Letters  to  the  Author,  just  from  the  press,  on  the 
Mode  and  Subjects  of  Baptism.  .  .     Worcester,  1806.     16°,  pp.  60. 

[Andover  Theol.  Sem.     B.  Ath.     Brown  Univ.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
Y.  C. 

14.  A  view  of  the  Economy  of  the  Church  of  God,  as  it  existed 
primitively,  under  the  Abrahamic  Dispensation  and  the  Sinai  Law ; 
and  as  it  is  perpetuated  under  the  more  luminous  Dispensation  of 
the  Gospel ;    particularly  in  regard  to  the  Covenants.     Worcester, 
1807.     8°,  pp.  328. 

[A.  A.  S.    Andover  Theol.  Sem.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

This  volume  probably  grew  out  of  the  controversy  which  pro- 
duced the  two  publications  last  preceding. 


254  Yale  College 

15.  The  incomparable  excellency  of  religion  as  the  life  of  man. 
A  Sermon  [from  Deut.  xxxii,  47].     Catskill,  1808.     8°,  pp.  17. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown   Univ.     Han'.     U.   S. 
Y.  C. 

Extracted  from  The  Columbian  Preacher,  vol.  i,  Catskill,  1808; 
and  republished  in  E.  Smalley,  The  Worcester  Pulpit,  1851,  pp. 
125-45- 

16.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Chron.  vii,  10],  preached  at  the  Dedica- 
tion  of    the    new    Meetinghouse   in    Hadley,    November    3,    1808. 
Worcester,  1808.     8°,  pp.  19. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  aged  pastor  of  the  Hadley  Church  was  the  father  of  the 
preacher's  wife. 

17.  The   Gospel   Minister  commissioned  by   Christ. — A   Sermon 
[from  John  xx,  21],  preached  at  the  Ordination  of  Rev.  John  Mil- 
ton Whiton,  in  Antrim,  September  28,  1808.     Amherst,  N.  H.,  1809. 
8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     M.  H.  S. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-20. 

18.  Freedom  in  Preaching  the  Gospel,  the  privilege  and  the  Duty 
of  its  Ministers. — A  Sermon    [from  Eph.  vi,   19-20]   preached  at 
the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Warren  Fay,  to  the  pastoral  care  of  the 
church  and  congregation  in  Brimfield;   November  3  [error  for  2], 
1808.     Worcester,  1809.     8°,  pp.  35. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-25. 

19.  A  Sermon  [from  Isaiah  iii,  9],  preached  at  Worcester,  on  the 
Annual  Fast,  April   n,   1811.     Worcester,   1811.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.     A.  C.  A.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv. 
U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

Including  a  scathing  arraignment  of  ex-President  Jefferson. 

20.  The  personal  insufficiency,  and  the  resource,  of  the  Gospel 
Minister: — A  Sermon  [from  2  Cor.  ii,  16],  preached  at  the  Ordi- 
nation of  the  Rev.  John  Nelson,   over  the  church  and   religious 
society  in  Leicester    (Mass.)    March  4,   1812.       Worcester,   1812. 
8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.    -Brown  Univ.     Harv.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  only  pp.  1-23. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  255 

21.  A   Sermon    [from  Jer.   xviii,   7-8],  preached   in   Worcester, 
Massachusetts,   on   the   occasion    of    the    Special   Fast,    July    23d. 
1812. — Published  from  the  press,  by  the  desire  of  some  who  heard 
it,  and  liked  it,  by  the  desire  of  some  who  heard  it,  and  did  not  like 
it,  and  by  the  desire  of  others  who  did  not  hear  it,  but  imagine  they 
should  not  have  liked  it,  if  they  had.     Worcester,  1812.     8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.   A.   S.     A.   C.   A.     B.  Ath.      Bowdoin   Coll.     Brit.   Mus. 
Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     M.  H.  S.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

22.  The  Apology  of  Patriots,  or  the  heresy  of  the  friends  of  the 
Washington  and  peace  policy  defended. — A   Sermon    [from  Acts 
xxiv,  14],  preached  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  on  the  day  of  the 
National  Fast,  Thursday,  August  20,  1812     .  .     Worcester,  1812. 
8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.    A.    S.     A.    C.    A.     B.    Ath.     B.    Publ.      Bowdoin    Coll. 
Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     Harv.     Y.  C. 

The  word  Apology  in  the  title  is  used  in  the  sense  of  Defence; 
and  the  sermon  includes  a  personal  defence  of  the  preacher's  con- 
duct, of  autobiographical  interest. 

23.  Christ  crucified,  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God, 
the  grand  subject  of  correct  preaching. — A  Sermon  [from  I  Cor. 
i,  23-24],  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Gamaliel  S.  Olds, 
to  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Congregational  Church  and  Society  in 
Greenfield,    (Mass.)      ..     Nov.    19,    1813.     Greenfield,    1814.     8°, 
pp.  24.  [A.  A.  S.     Brown  Univ.     Y.  C. 

24.  An  Inaugural  Address,  pronounced  in  Burlington,  July  26, 
1815.     Burlington,  1815.     8°,  pp.  18. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

25.  Religion    the    glory    of    a    community.      A    Sermon    [from 
Isaiah  Ix,  19],  preached  on  the  day  of  General  Election,  at  Mont- 
pelier,  October  10,  1816,  before  the  Honorable  Legislature  of  Ver- 
mont.    Montpelier,  1816.     8°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

26.  Protest  against  Proceedings  of  the  First  Church  in  Worces- 
ter.    Worcester,  1821.     8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     Y.  C. 

With  reference  to  the  treatment  of  certain  cases  of  discipline  by 
the  Church. 

27.  An  Oration,  pronounced  at  Newport,  Rhode-Island,  July  4, 
1822.  .  .     Newport,  1822.     8°,  pp.  16.       [A.  A.  S.     Brown  Univ. 


256  Yale  College 

28.  The  Nature,  Obligations,  and  Benefits  of  the  Publick  Wor- 
ship of   God. — A  Discourse    [from   Ps.   c,   4-5]    delivered  at  the 
Dedication  of  the  New  Meeting-House  erected  for  the  use  of  the 
Calvinist   Church     ..,     in    Worcester,    Mass.     October    13,    1823. 
Worcester.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.A.S.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

29.  Paul,  an  Example  and  Proof  of  the  peculiar  excellence  and 
usefulness  of  the  Missionary  character. — A  Discourse  [from  Gal. 
i,    15-16],   delivered   in   Hartford,   Conn.,   Sept.    15,    1824,   at  the 
Fifteenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Board  of  Commission- 
ers for  Foreign  Missions.     Boston,  1824.     8°,  pp.  30. 

[A.  A.  S.     Andover  Theol.  Sem.     B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus. 
Brown  Univ.     Harv.     Y.  C. 

30.  An    Address,    pronounced    in    Worcester,    (Mass.)    on    the 
Fourth  of  July,  1825     . .     Worcester.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     Y.  C. 

31.  Dissertations  upon  several  fundamental  articles  of  Christian 
Theology.     Worcester  [1826].     8°,  pp.  260.  [U.  S.     Y.  C. 

Separate  sermons  from  his  pen  were  also  published  in  various 
collections,  as : 

True  Obedience  to  the  Gospel,  harmonious  and  entire.  From 
James  ii,  10. 

In  Sermons  on  Important  Subjects,  Hartford,  1797.  8°,  pp. 
347-64- 

God  glorified  in  building  up  Zion.     From  Ps.  cii,  16. 

In  The  Columbian  Preacher,  vol.  i,  Catskill,  1808,  pp.  27-45. 
No.  15  in  the  preceding  list  also  appeared  in  this  volume. 

The  personal  experience  of  saving  grace,  a  powerful  testimony 
to  the  truth  of  divine  revelation,  from  i  John,  v,  10. 

In  E.  Smalley's  The  Worcester  Pulpit,  Boston,  1851,  pp.  147-72. 

He  performed  a  valued  service  in  editing,  in  eight  volumes,  at 
Worcester,  in  1808-09,  the  works  of  President  Edwards,  to  which 
he  prefixed  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Edwards's  Life  (99  pp.)  and  various 
annotations.  He  also  published  at  Worcester  in  1803  an  American 
edition  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Haweis's  Impartial  and  Succinct  His- 
tory of  the  Revival  and  Progress  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  257 

AUTHORITIES. 

American    Quarterly    Register,    ix,  98-172.      Sprague,     Annals     of     the 

201-20.     Caulkins,  Hist,  of  Norwich,  Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  221-28;    Life  of  J. 

542.      Button,    Hist,    of    the    North  Morse,     9.      Pres.     Stiles,    Literary 

Church  in  New  Haven,  77-83.     Good-"  Diary,   ii,  522,  545 ;    iii,  30,  71,   158, 

win,    Genealogical    Notes,    112,    115.  246-48,  286,  331,  343,  355,  374,  377-79- 

Hemenway,   Vt.    Hist.    Magazine,    i,  Wheeler,  Hist.  Discourse  at  the  Semi- 

525.      Lincoln,   Hist,    of    Worcester,  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Univ. 

157-62.      Smalley,   Worcester   Pulpit,  of  Vermont,  21-23. 


JEHU  BRAINERD,  the  youngest  of  eight  children  of 
Phineas  and  Jerusha  (Towner)  Brainerd,  of  Higganum 
Parish,  in  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Elijah 
and  Margaret  Brainerd,  of  Haddam,  was  born  on 
November  5,  1757. 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  after  graduation,  and  mar- 
ried Abigail  Mary,  only  daughter  of  Richard  Woodhull 
(Yale  1752). 

He  became  the  Sheriff  of  New  Haven  County  about 
1795,  and  remained  in  office  until  1804. 

He  died  in  New  Haven  on  November  28,  1815,  aged 
58  years. 

His  wife  died  on  March  5,  1804,  aged  41  years,  leaving 
no  children.  He  next  married,  on  June  10,  1810,  Harriet 
Smith,  of  Shelter  Island,  who  returned  with  her  two 
daughters  to  Sag  Harbor,  Long  Island,  after  his  death, 
and  died  between  1826  and  1833. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Field,  Brainerd  Genealogy,  219,  223.     N.  Y.  Geneal.  Record,  iv,  57. 


DANIEL  BROWN,  son  of  Captain  Jacob  and  Anne 
Brown,  and  a  nephew  of  Colonel  John  Brown  (Yale 
1771),  was  born  in  Tyringham,  Berkshire  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  on  January  20  [or  21],  1764.  His  father 
accompanied  Arnold  on  his  expedition  against  Quebec, 
and  died  there  of  small-pox  in  1776.  While  in  college  the 
17 


258  Yale  College 

son's  residence  was  in  Sandisfield,  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Tyringham. 

He  settled  in  the  practice  of  law  in  Camden,  South 
Carolina,  in  1788,  and  there  married  Mary  Polk,  who 
survived  him,  without  children. 

He  died  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on  December 
I,  1802,  in  his  39th  year,  being  taken  ill  while  on  his 
return  to  Camden  from  a  visit  to  his  friends  in  New 
England. 

His  will,  made  the  day  before  his  death,  and  written  by 
his  physician,  the  well-known  Dr.  David  Ramsay,  disposes 
of  an  estate  valued  at  upwards  of  twelve  thousand 
dollars — the  most  of  it  being  in  slaves. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.     Courant,    March    2,    1803.       MS.  Letter,  June  23,  1905.    Tyring- 
Kirkland     and     Kennedy,     Historic      ham  Vital  Records,  17. 
Camden,  i,  341,  393.     T.  J.  Kirkland, 


MATTHEW  COLE  was  born  in  Kensington  Parish,  in 
Farmington,  Connecticut,  on  November  13,  1760,  and  was 
baptized  three  days  later,  being  the  elder  son  of  Captain 
Matthew  Cole,  of  Kensington,  and  grandson  of  Matthew 
and  Ruth  (Hubbard)  Cole,  of  Berlin.  His  mother  was 
Rhoda,  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Mercy  (Hubbard)  Smith. 

He  became  a  physician,  and  settled  in  Chittenden 
County,  Vermont:  at  first  in  Richmond,  where  he  was 
also  Representative  in  1795,  and  from  1790  to  1796  Judge 
of  Probate,  and  later  in  Burlington,  where  he  died  on 
January  i,  1810,  in  his  5Oth  year.  He  was  probably 
never  married.  His  very  small  estate  (appraised  at  about 
$66)  was  divided  between  three  nieces. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Julius  Gay,   MS.   Letter,   May  29,      Letters,  July,  1905.    Hemenway,  Vt. 
1905.     Professor  J.  E.  Goodrich,  MS.       Hist.  Gazetteer,  i,  504,  844-45. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  259 

ABISHAI  COLTON,  the  second  son  and  child  of  George 
Colton,  of  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts,  and  grandson 
of  George  and  Experience  (Burt)  Colton,  of  Brimfield. 
and  Longmeadow,  was  born  on  May  4,  1761.  His 
mother  was  Sarah,  only  daughter  of  Ephraim  and  Sarah 
(Burt)  Colton,  of  Longmeadow^,  and  on  two  separate 
lines  the  third  cousin  of  her  husband. 

He  studied  theology,  and  in  1788-89  he  was  preaching 
to  the  newly  organized  church  in  Springfield,  Windsor 
County,  Vermont,  but  declined  a  call  to  settle. 

On  May  20,  1892,  he  married  Abigail,  second  daughter 
of  William  Denison,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Stratford, 
Orange  County,  Vermont,  and  originally  from  North 
Stonington,  Connecticut.  She  was  born  on  November  4, 
1766. 

On  October  15,  1793,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as 
the  first  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  the  town 
of  Stoddard,  in  southwestern  New  Hampshire;  but 
after  a  brief  service  he  was  dismissed  on  September  9, 


Soon  after  this  he  took  charge  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Sandgate,  Bennington  County,  Vermont,  to 
which  he  ministered  for  ten  years.  His  residence  con- 
tinued in  Sandgate,  where  he  died  on  January  12,  1823, 
in  the  62d  year  of  his  age. 

His  children  were  six  sons  and  one  daughter. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Baldwin  and  Cliff,  Descendants  of       Springfield,   Vt,    73,   81-82.      Long- 
George  Denison,  114-15.    Hazen,  Min-      meadow    Centennial,    Appendix,    40, 
istry  and  Churches  of  N.  Hampshire,       45-46. 
29,  40.    Hubbard  and  Dartt,  Hist,  of 


THADDEUS  COOK,  younger  son  of  Colonel  Thaddeus 
Cook,  of  Wallingford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Captain  Samuel  and  Hannah  (Lewis)  Cook,  of  Cheshire 
and  New  Haven,  was  born  on  May  3,  1764.  His  mother 


260  Yale  College 

was  Sarah,  eldest  daughter  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Hall, 
of  Cheshire,  and  sister  of  Benjamin  Hall  (Yale  1754). 

He  lived  and  died  in  his  native  town,  his  life  ending  on 
October  3,  1799,  in  his  36th  year.  The  stone  placed  over 
his  grave  describes  him  as  "a  Gentleman  of  most  aimiable 
Qualities  of  Mind,  possessed  of  Benevolence,  Generosity 
&  Sincerity  in  an  uncommon  Degree." 


AUTHORITIES. 
Davis,  Hist,  of  Wallingford,  681. 


DAVID  DAGGETT  was  born  in  Attleborough,  Massachu- 
setts, on  December  31,  1764,  the  sixth  of  nine  children  of 
Thomas  and  Sibulah  (Stanley)  Daggett,  and  grandson  of 
Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Blake)  Daggett,  of  Attleborough. 
His  father  was  a  first  cousin  of  President  Naphtali 
Daggett,  of  Yale. 

He  was  induced  to  come  to  this  College  by  the  example 
of  his  classmate  and  early  friend,  Elijah  Leonard,  and  by 
the  encouragement  of  the  Rev.  Professor  Samuel  Wales, 
a  native  of  the  same  vicinity ;  and  he  was  admitted  at  the 
opening  of  the  Junior  year  in  1781. 

After  graduation  he  supported  himself  by  teaching  in 
a  private  school,  and  also  in  the  Hopkins  Grammar 
School.  Meantime  he  pursued  the  study  of  law  with  the 
Hon.  Charles  Chauncey,  and  in  January,  1786,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  and  began  practice.  He  held  the 
office  of  College  Butler  for  a  year  or  more  from  March, 
1785.  He  was  elected  to  a  Tutorship  in  April,  1786,  but 
declined  the  offer. 

He  was  early  called  into  political  service.  In  October, 
1791,  he  was  chosen  to  represent  New  Haven  in  the 
General  Assembly,  and  was  reflected  at  every  session 
until  chosen  to  the  Council,  or  Upper  House,  in  1797;  he 
was  also  Speaker  in  the  six  Sessions  from  May,  1794. 
He  declined  a  nomination  to  Congress  (to  fill  a  vacancy) 
in  1797. 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  261 

He  retained  his  seat  in  the  Council  until  his  resignation 
in  1804,  and  in  1805  he  was  again  a  member  of  the  Lower 
House.  In  1809  he  returned  to  the  Upper  House,  being 
then  as  also  during  the  last  year  of  his  former  period  of 
service  a  member  ex-officio  of  the  Yale  Corporation. 

In  June,  1811,  he  was  appointed  State's  Attorney  for 
New  Haven  County,  and  in  1812  he  was  a  Presidential 
Elector. 

He  continued  in  the  State  Senate  until  chosen  a  Senator 
of  the  United  States  (as  a  Federalist)  in  May,  1813,  when 
he  resigned  also  his  office  as  State's  Attorney. 

At  the  close  of  his  senatorial  term  in  1819,  he  returned 
to  his  extensive  practice  of  law. 

In  November,  1824,  he  became  an  associate  instructor 
in  the  Law  School  now  made  part  of  Yale  College,  and 
in  1826  he  was  appointed  to  the  new  Kent  Professorship 
of  Law,  which  he  held  until  1848. 

In  May,  1826,  he  was  chosen  an  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  the  State,  by  a  Legislature  in  which  a 
decided  majority  was  opposed  to  him  in  politics;  and 
after  six  years'  service,  he  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  though  not  (as  was  the  usual  custom)  the 
Senior  Judge  in  office.  He  performed  the  duties  of  that 
station  until  disqualified  by  law  on  arriving  at  the  age 
of  seventy  years  (December  31,  1834). 

He  was  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  Haven  from  June, 
1828,  to  June,  1830. 

In  1826  he  received  from  Yale  College  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

He  died  in  New  Haven,  after  ten  days'  illness,  on  April 
12,  1851,  in  his  8/th  year.  The  Address  at  his  funeral  by 
his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  W.  S.  Dutton,  was  subsequently 
published;  and  contains  a  discriminating  tribute  to  his 
memory. 

Copies  of  his  portrait  and  of  a  bust  in  plaster  are  in 
possession  of  the  Yale  Law  School;  an  engraving  from 
the  portrait  is  given  in  volume  i*of  the  Green  Bag. 


262  Yale  College 

Judge  Daggett  married,  on  September  10,  1786, 
Wealthy  Ann,  second  daughter  of  Dr.  Eneas  Munson 
(Yale  1753),  of  New  Haven,  a  person  of  very  marked 
individuality  and  of  strong  religious  character,  who  died 
on  July  9,  1839,  in  her  73d  year. 

He  next  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Captain  Major 
and  Susanna  (Mansfield)  Lines,  on  May  4,  1840.  She 
survived  him,  and  died  in  New  Haven  on  December  26, 
1854,  in  her  67th  year. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  nineteen  children,  of  whom 
only  two  daughters  and  three  sons  survived  infancy:  of 
these  the  elder  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sereno  E. 
D wight  (Yale  1803),  and  the  sons  were  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1807,  1808,  and  1828,  respectively. 

Judge  Daggett  had  as  an  advocate  no  superior  at  the 
bar  of  the  State ;  and  the  same  qualities,  of  quick  insight, 
well-balanced  judgment,  and  strong  common  sense,  which 
served  him  so  well  at  the  bar,  gave  distinction  also  to  his 
career  in  the  Senate  and  on  the  bench ;  while  his  finished 
courtesy,  his  wit  and  humor,  and  his  fund  of  anecdote 
made  him  equally  brilliant  in  social  life. 

He  published: 

1.  An  Oration,  pronounced  in  the  Brick  Meeting-House,  in  the 
City  of  New-Haven,  on  the  fourth  of  July,  A.D.  1787.   .  .   New- 
Haven.    8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Harv.     M.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     U.  S. 
Y.  C. 

2.  Sketches  of  the  Life  of  Joseph  Mountain,  a  Negro,  who  was 
executed  at  New-Haven,  on  the  2Oth  Day  of  October,  1790,  for  a 
Rape  . .     New-Haven.    8°.  pp.  20.  [C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

This  anonymous  compilation  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Daggett. 

3.  An  Oration  on  the  Death  of  Mr. -William  Heyliger,  of  St. 
Croix,  in  the  West-Indies,  who  died  in  New-York,  January,  1794, 
aged  23  years.     Pronounced  before  Hiram-Lodge,  in  New-Haven, 
in  Connecticut,  of  which  the  deceased  was  a  member,  on  the  2ist 
of  November,  1794.     New-Haven.    8°,  pp.  10.  [B.  Ath. 

4.  Sun-Beams  may  be  extracted  from  Cucumbers,  but  the  process 
is  tedious.     An  Oration,  pronounced  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1799, 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  263 

at  the  request  of  the  citizens  of  New-Haven.     New-Haven,  1799. 
8°,  pp.  28.  [A.  A.  S.    Brit  Mus.     Y.  C. 

The  same.     Second  Edition.     New-Haven,  1799.     8°,  pp.  28. 
[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     /.   Carter  Brown  Libr.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S. 

A  whimsical  condemnation  of  theorists,  with  a  political  bearing. 

5.  Three  Letters  to  Abraham  Bishop,  Esquire,  containing  some 
Strictures  on  his  Oration,  pronounced,  in  the  White  Meeting-House, 
on  the  evening  preceding  the   Public  Commencement,   September 
1800,  with  some  Remarks  on  his  conduct  at  the  late  election. — By 
Connecticutensis.     Hartford,  1800.     8°,  pp.  36. 

[C.  H.  S.     M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

A  savage  attack  on  Abraham  Bishop  (Yale  1778),  the  author- 
ship of  which  was  not  generally  suspected  at  the  time. 

6.  Facts  are  stubborn  things,   or  Nine  plain  Questions  to  the 
People  of   Connecticut,   with   a  brief   reply  to   each. — By   Simon 
Hold-Fast.     Hartford,  1803.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[B.  Ath.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

An  anonymous  political  tract. 

7.  Count  the  Cost. — An  Address  to  the  People  of  Connecticut, 
on  sundry  political  subjects,  and  particularly  on  the  proposition  for 
a  new  Constitution.     Hartford,  1804.     8°,  pp.  21,  ii. 

[B.  Ath.    M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 
Anonymous. 

8.  Argument,  before  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut, October,  1804,  in  the  case  of  Certain  Justices  of  the  Peace. 
To  which  is  prefixed,  a  brief  history  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Assembly.     New-Haven,  1804.     8°,  pp.  30. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

A  speech  by  Mr.  Daggett,  as  one  of  the  managers  of  the  prosecu- 
tion of  certain  minor  officials  who  had  taken  part  in  a  political 
meeting  which  adopted  resolutions  affirming  that  Connecticut  was 
without  a  Constitution. 

9.  Steady  Habits  Vindicated:    or  a  Serious  Remonstrance  to  the 
People  of  Connecticut,  against  changing  their  government. — By  a 
Friend  to  the  public  welfare.     Hartford,  1805.     8°,  pp.  20. 

[B.  Ath.     Y.  C. 

An  anonymous  argument,  on  the  lines  of  his  former  writings, 
against  the  movement  for  a  new  constitution. 


264  Yale  College 

10.  An  Eulogium,  commemorative  of  the  exalted  virtues  of  His 
Excellency  Roger  Griswold,  late  Governour  of  this  State.  Written 
and  delivered  at  the  request  of  the  General  Assembly,  on  the  2pth 
of  October,  1812  .  .  New-Haven,  1812.  8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Brit.  Mus.  Brown  Univ.  Harv. 
M.  H.  S.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

An  Argument  against  Sumptuary  Laws,  which  he  delivered  on 
taking  his  Master's  degree  at  the  College  Commencement  in  1786, 
was  printed  in  the  New-Haven  Gazette  for  October  12,  1786. 

He  also  published  the  following  article,  dated  March  12,  1800, 
in  volume  I  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Connecticut  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  New-Haven,  1810,  pp.  131-34: 

A  brief  Account  of  a  Trial  at  Law,  in  which  the  influence  of 
Water,  raised  by  a  Mill-Dam.  on  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  in 
the  neighborhood,  was  considered. 

His  voluminous  correspondence,  that  is,  the  letters 
received  by  him,  were  given  to  the  Yale  Library  by  his 
family  in  1886,  together  with  a  few  manuscripts  of  his 
law  lectures,  etc.  In  1887  a  few  Selections  from  these 
letters,  1786-1802,  were  printed  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society  for  April,  pp.  367-78. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Doggett-Daggett  Family,  124,  153-       Diary,  iii,  152,  213,  269,  421,  451,  517, 
56.     Green  Bag,  i,  239-41.     Hist,  of      545,  562.    Tuttle  Family,  207.     Wood, 
Litchfield  County,  1881,  27.      Mans-       Hist,  of  the  Administration  of  John 
field  Genealogy,  60.     Munson  Record,       Adams,  380-84. 
ii,  769,  800-02.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 


EBENEZER  DIMON,  the  only  son  of  Colonel  David  and 
Ann  Dimon,  of  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Ebenezer  Dimon  (Yale  1728),  of  Fairfield,  was  baptized 
on  November  6,  1763.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of 
David  and  Sarah  (Gold)  Allen,  of  Fairfield.  His  father 
died  of  fever  in  the  army,  in  September,  1777;  and  two 
years  later  the  homestead  was  burnt  by  the  British  and 
the  family  reduced  by  their  losses  to  indigence.  For  some 
reason  he  did  not  proceed  to  a  degree  with  his  class,  but 
was  graduated  a  year  later. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  265 

He  settled  on  his  paternal  estate,  and  built  a  house  in 
place  of  the  one  destroyed  in  1779. 

On  July  23,  1800,  he  married  Mary  Sherwood,  eldest 
child  of  Captain  Elisha  and  Abigail  (Dolbeare)  Hinman, 
of  New  London,  Connecticut. 

He  was  sheriff  of  Fairfield  County  from  October,  1806, 
to  June,  1819.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  extensive  reading 
and  an  interesting  talker,  speaking  French  with  facility. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  and  chief  supporters  of  the 
Fairfield  Academy  and  the  Public  Library  connected 
with  it. 

He  died  in  Fairfield  on  December  17,  1841,  aged  78 
years,  leaving  an  estate  of  about  $60,000. 

His  widow  died  in  Fairfield  on  May  25,  1852,  in  her 
75th  year. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  five  sons.  The 
eldest  daughter  married  the  Hon.  Thomas  B.  Osborne 
(Yale  1817).  The  second  son  was  a  member  of  the  class 
of  1828,  Yale  College,  but  did  not  graduate.  The  third 
son  was  graduated  at  the  United  States  Military  Academy 
in  1832,  the  fourth  at  Yale  in  1835,  and  the  youngest  at 
Williams  College  in  1840. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  ii,       man,  Genealogy  of  the  Puritans,  821. 
37.     Dimond  Family,  34,  51-53.    Hin-       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  136. 


JOHN  FELLOWS,  son  of  Ezra  and  Charity  Fellows,  of 
Sheffield,  Massachusetts,  was  born  in  that  town  on 
November  17,  1759.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by  the 
Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins  (Yale  1760),  of  Norfolk, 
Connecticut. 

In  1775  he  enlisted  for  three  months'  service  in  the 
regiment  of  minute-men  commanded  by  his  uncle,  General 
John  Fellows,  of  Sheffield. 

As  he  had  another  uncle  living  in  Hanover,  New  Hamp- 
shire, he  took  a  dismission  to  Dartmouth  College,  in 


266  Vale  College 

June  of  his  Freshman  year ;  but  he  returned  to  Yale  two 
years  later. 

In  1795  he  was  established  as  a  bookseller  and  publisher 
in  New  York  City,  and  during  the  next  year  he  attended 
to  the  reprinting  in  America  of  some  of  the  political  tracts 
of  Joel  Barlow. 

He  had  already  avowed  deistical  principles;  and  when 
Thomas  Paine  returned  to  his  native  country  in  1803 
Colonel  Fellows  (as  he  came  to  be  called)  became  intimate 
with  him  and  with  his  circle  of  friends. 

Later  in  life  he  followed  the  business  of  an  auctioneer, 
and  was  subsequently  a  constable  in  the  city  courts.  In 
1836-38  he  assisted  in  editing  the  first  series  of  the  liter- 
ary and  scientific  weekly  called  the  Beacon.  In  political 
matters  he  was  a  disciple  of  Jefferson. 

He  died  in  New  York  City,  on  January  3,  1844,  aged  84 
years. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  by  Walt 
Whitman,  in  1877,  in  commemoration  of  Thomas 
Paine: — 

Some  thirty-five  years  ago,  in  New  York  city,  at  Tammany  hall, 
of  which  place  I  was  then  a  frequenter,  I  happened  to  become  quite 
well  acquainted  with  Thomas  Paine's  perhaps  most  intimate  chum, 
and  certainly  his  later  years'  very  frequent  companion,  a  remark- 
ably fine  old  man,  Col.  Fellows,  who  may  yet  be  remember'd  by 
some  stray  relics  of  that  period  and  spot.  If  you  will  allow  me,  I 
will  first  give  a  description  of  the  Colonel  himself.  He  was  tall, 
of  military  bearing,  aged  about  78  I  should  think,  hair  white  as 
snow,  clean-shaved  on  the  face,  dress'd  very  neatly,  a  tail-coat  of 
blue  cloth  with  metal  buttons,  buff  vest,  pantaloons  of  drab  color, 
and  his  neck,  breast  and  wrists  showing  the  whitest  linen.  Under 
all  circumstances,  fine  manners;  a  good  but  not  profuse  talker, 
his  wits  still  fully  about  him,  balanced  and  live  and  undimm'd  as 
ever.  He  kept  pretty  fair  health,  though  so  old.  For  employ- 
ment— for  he  was  poor — he  had  a  post  as  constable  of  some  of 
the  upper  courts.  I  used  to  think  him  very  picturesque  on  the 
fringe  of  a  crowd  holding  a  tall  staff,  with  his  erect  form,  and  his 
superb,  bare,  thick-hair'd,  closely  cropt  white  head.  The  judges 
and  young  lawyers,  with  whom  he  was  ever  a  favorite,  and  the 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  267 

subject  of  respect,  used  to  call  him.  Aristides.  It  was  the  general 
opinion  among  them  that  if  manly  rectitude  and  the  instincts  of 
absolute  justice  remain'd  vital  anywhere  about  New  York  City 
Hall,  or  Tammany,  they  wereL,to  be  found  in  Col.  Fellows.  He 
liked  young  men,  and  enjoy'd  to  leisurely  talk  with  them  over  a 
social  glass  of  toddy,  after  his  day's  work,  (he  on  these  occasions 
never  drank  but  one  glass,)  and  it  was  at  reiterated  meetings  of 
this  kind  in  old  Tammany's  back  parlor  of  those  days,  that  he  told 
me  much  about  Thomas  Paine. 

He  published: — 

1.  The   Character   and   Doctrines   of   Jesus    Christ.      From   the 
Author's  Manuscript — To  which  is  added,  Reasons  for  Scepticism 
in  Revealed  Religion.     By  John  Hollis. — Also,  the  History  of  the 
Man  after  God's  own  heart.     New  York. — Printed  for  J.  Fellows. 
1796.     12°,  pp.  113.  [N.  Y.  H.  S. 

Anonymous.     The  part  contributed  by  Fellows  occupies  pp.  1-42, 
and  is  thoroughly  sceptical  in  its  doctrine. 

2.  The   Theophilanthropist ;    containing   Critical,    Moral,   Theo- 
logical and  Literary  Essays,  in  monthly  numbers. — By  a  Society. 
New- York,  1810.     8°,  pp.  384  +  i  pi. 

[B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     Y.  C. 

Published  in  nine  monthly  numbers,  by  a  deistical  Society,  and 
edited  by  Colonel  Fellows. 

3.  The  Posthumous  Works  of  Junius. — To  which   is   prefixed, 
an  Inquiry  respecting  the  Author:    also,  a  Sketch  of  the  Life  of 
John  Home  Tooke.     New- York,  1829.    8°,  pp.  450  +  3  pi. 

[B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    N.   Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     U.  S. 
Y.  C. 

An  anonymous  compilation, — the  prefatory  matter  occupying  304 
pages.     The  object  is  to  prove  that  Home  Tooke  was  Junius. 

4.  An  Exposition  of  the  Mysteries,  or  Religious  Dogmas  and 
Customs    of    the    ancient   Egyptians,    Pythagoreans,    and    Druids. 
Also :    an  Inquiry  into  the  origin,  history,  and  purport  of  Free- 
masonry.    New-York,  1835.     8°,  pp.  xvi,  403  +  8. 

[Andover  Theol.  Sem.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Haru. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     Y.  C. 

The  author  does  not  appear  to  be  a  mason,  and  criticizes  the 
system  freely. 


268  Yale  College 

Another  edition,  with  varied  title,  was  published  in  London  in 
1860. 

5.  The  Veil  removed ;  or  Reflections  on  David  Humphreys'  Essay 
on  the  Life  of  Israel  Putnam.  Also,  Notices  of  Oliver  W.  B.  Pea- 
body's  Life  of  the  Same,  S.  Swett's  Sketch  of  Bunker  Hill  Battle, 
etc.,  etc.  New  York,  1843.  I2°>  PP-  231. 

[B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     L.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  writer  believes  Humphreys'  Life  of  Putnam  to  be  largely 
romance.  He  had  already  published  an  article  taking  the  same 
ground,  in  The  Knickerbocker  Magazine  for  August,  1841,  pp.  91- 
106,  with  the  title : — 

'Old  Put'  at  the  bar :  or  some  Reflections  on  Humphreys'  Life  of 
Major-General  Putnam. 


AUTHORITIES. 

American  Almanac  for  1845,  316.  Sailors  in  the  Revolution,  v,  595. 
Conn.  Journal,  Aug.  28,  1799.  Con-  Prcs.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  440; 
•way,  Life  of  Paine,  ii,  352-53,  359,  iii,  24.  Walt  Whitman,  Specimen 
364,  398,  423.  Mass.  Soldiers  and  Days  and  Collect,  96. 


ANDREW  FOWLER  was  born  in  Guilford,  Connecticut, 
on  June  10,  1760,  the  eldest  child  of  Andrew  and  Martha 
(Stone)  Fowler,  and  grandson  of  Benjamin  and  Andrea 
(Morgan)  Fowler,  of  Guilford.  Though  of  Congrega- 
tional parentage,  he  conformed  to  the  Episcopal  Church 
after  his  admission  to  college,  and  during  the  last  two 
years  of  his  undergraduate  course  he  served  regularly  as 
a  lay-reader  in  the  churches  of  New  Haven  and  West 
Haven. 

For  three  or  four  years  after  graduation  he  had  charge 
of  a  school  in  New  Rochelle,  Westchester  County,  New 
York,  and  during  his  residence  in  that  county  did  much  in 
the  capacity  of  a  lay-reader  to  re-establish  the  Episcopal 
congregations  dispersed  by  the  Revolution. 

On  October  4,  1787,  he  married  Mary,  elder  daughter 
of  John  and  Lucy  (Smith)  Doty,  of  Cold  Spring  Harbor, 
Long  Island. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  269 

He  was  ordained  Deacon  by  Bishop  Provoost  at  Staten 
Island  on  June  21,  1789,  and  Priest  by  the  same  prelate  on 
June  1 8,  1790,  at  Eastchester. 

His  first  rectorship  was  "on  Long  Island,  where  he  had 
charge  of  three  united  parishes,  in  Brookhaven,  Hunt- 
ington,  and  Oyster  Bay ;  but  after  only  two  years'  service 
he  was  recalled  to  Westchester  County,  where  he  was 
instituted  Rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church  in  Cortlandt  Par- 
ish, now  Peekskill,  on  August  7,  1792,  on  £70  salary. 

He  resigned  this  charge  late  in  the  year  1794,  and  was 
next  for  a  short  time  in  charge  of  St.  George's  Church 
in  Bedford  in  the  same  county. 

Thence  he  went  to  New  Jersey,  where  he  spent  about 
ten  years  in  two  successive  rectorships, — the  first  in  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Spotswood,  near  New  Brunswick,  and  the 
second  (1799-1806)  in  Christ  Church,  Shrewsbury,  con- 
jointly with  Christ  Church,  Middletown. 

In  April,  1806,  he  began  a  six  months'  engagement 
with  Grace  Church,  Jamaica,  Long  Island;  and  in  1807 
removed  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  where  he  was 
elected  Rector  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Parish  on  Febru- 
ary 3. 

He  resigned  this  post  in  1811,  and  then  spent  many 
years  in  very  useful  labor  as  a  missionary  among  desti- 
tute parishes  in  that  diocese,  and  in  the  establishment  of 
new  stations.  During  a  part  of  the  time  he  also  con- 
ducted an  Academy  for  youth  of  both  sexes. 

He  was  permanently  disabled  by  infirmity  about  1843, 
and  in  1847  blindness  was  added  to  his  other  trials. 

He  died  in  Charleston  on  December  29,  1850,  in  his  9ist 
year. 

His  wife  died  of  yellow  fever,  after  a  week's  illness,  at 
Sullivan's  Island,  South  Carolina,  on  July  27,  1817,  in  her 
53d  year.  By  her  he  had  four  daughters  and  one  son. 
The  son  died  soon  after  graduation  at  Yale  in  1822. 

His  second  wife,  Mrs.  Henrietta  Fowler,  died  on  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1854. 


270  Yale  College 

Mr.  Fowler's  life  .  was  one  of  almost  unexampled 
industry,  while  he  was  a  pattern  of  cheerfulness  in 
narrow  circumstances,  of  meekness,  and  of  resignation. 

He  published:— 

1.  A  Short  Introduction  to  Christian  Knowledge,  designed  par- 
ticularly for  the  use  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  at  East- 
Woods,  Oysterbay.     New-York,  1792.     16°,  pp.  31. 

[Harv.     U.  S. 

2.  Hymns.     New  York,  1793.     12°,  pp.  v,  51.  [Harv. 

3.  A  Sketch  of  the  life  and  death  of  Miss  Hannah  Dyckman, 
King's  Ferry.     Danbury,  1795.     12°,  pp.  36.  [N.  Y.  H.  S. 

The  Sketch  occupies  only  three  pages,  and  the  rest  is  made  up  of 
Extracts,  both  in  prose  and  poetry,  mainly  of  a  religious  nature,  in 
view  of  death,  but  partly  miscellaneous. 

4.  The  Lessons  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  United 
States   of  America;  .  .  with  an  Explanation  of  all   the   Sundays 
and   Principal  Holy-Days  throughout  the  year.     New-Brunswick, 
N.  J.,  1798.     12°,  pp.  501.  [R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

The  same.     Second   Edition.     Charleston,    1838.     12°,   pp.   552. 

[Y.  C. 

5.  A   Form   of    Morning   and   Evening   Prayer.     Compiled    for 
the  Use  of  an  Academy.     New- York,  1802.     12°,  pp.  24. 

[N.  Y.  H.  S. 

The  Form  of  Prayer  occupies  nine  pages ;  the  remaining  pages 
are  occupied  with  appropriate  Hymns. 

6.  An  Exposition  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  .  .  according 
to  the  use  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America.     Burlington,  N.  J.,  1805.     8°,  pp.  314,  vi,  8. 

[U.  S. 

The  Same.  Second  Edition.  New-York,  1807.  12°,  pp.  xii, 
347-  [V-  T.  S. 

Same.     3d  Edition.     Middletown,  1826.     16°,  pp.  382. 

[U.  S. 

7.  Short  Instructions  for  those  who  are  preparing  for  Confirma- 
tion.    Charleston,  1813.     16°,  pp.  32.  [U.S. 

8.  A    Sermon,    upon    the    word    Amen.      Revelation,    xxii.    21. 
Delivered   in    St.    Michael's    Church,    Charleston,    Feb.   7th,    1813. 
Charleston,  1835.     8°,  pp.  n.  [Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S. 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  271 

9.  A  Short  Account  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal    Church   in   the   City   of    St.    Augustine,   East   Florida. 
Charleston,  1835.     12°,  pp.  22.  [A.  A.  S.     Brown  Univ. 

Relating  to  a  mission  undertaken  by  the  author  in  1821. 

10.  An  Exposition  of  the  Articles  of  Religion  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  in  the  United  States  of  America.     To  which  are 
added,    Some   useful    extracts.      Charleston,    1839.      12°,    pp.    xii, 
192  +  pi.  [U.  S.     Y.  C. 

Originally  prepared  in  1814.  A  lithographed  portrait  of  the 
author,  taken  in  1839,  is  prefixed. 

He  also  printed  a  Catechism,  and  perhaps  other  Sermons ;  and 
edited  the  following  periodical: — 

The  Sunday  Visitant;  or,  Weekly  Repository  of  Christian 
Knowledge.  Charleston,  1818  (January) — 1819  (December). 

The  only  copy  I  have  seen,  in  the  Harvard  College  Library,  ends 
with  the  year  1819;  but  possibly  it  was  continued  later.  The 
week's  issue  was  a  small  quarto  sheet,  of  four  pages. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bolton,  Hist,  of  the  Prot.  Episc.  and  Geneal.  Register,  Kii,  316.  On- 
Church  in  Westchester  County,  327,  dcrdonk,  'Antiquities  of  the  Parish 
472,  512,  595-98,  604.  Church  Review,  Church,  Jamaica,  97.  Sprague,  Annals 
iv,  153.  Dalcho,  Hist.  Account  of  the  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  v,  428-29.  Pres. 
Prot.  Episc.  Church  in  S.  C.,  372-73.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  521. 
Doty  Family,  507,  515.  N.  E.  Hist. 


JONATHAN  FULLER,  eldest  son  of  Dr.  Jonathan  Fuller, 
of  Mansfield,  Connecticut,  and  a  grandson  of  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Fuller  (Yale  1721),  of  Willington,  Connecticut, 
was  born  on  August  17,  1763.  His  mother  was  Sibyl, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Meacham  (Harvard  1710) 
and  Esther  (Williams)  Meacham,  of  Coventry,  Connecti- 
cut. A  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1798.  He  joined 
the  college  church  on  profession  of  faith  in  July  of  his 
Sophomore  year. 

He  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Hartford  South  Association  of  Ministers  in  June,  1784. 

On  December  8,  1784,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as 
pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Preston,  Connecticut. 


272  Yale  College 

His  career  was  brief,  as  he  died  in  Preston  on  February 
22,  1786,  in  his  23d  year. 

He  married  Anna,  third  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Eleazer 
May  (Yale  1752),  of  Haddam,  Connecticut. 

She  survived  him,  with  one  child,  and  next  married  the 
Rev.  Jesse  Townsend  (Yale  1790).  She  died  on  April 
13,  1846,  aged  83  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dimock,    Mansfield     Records,     84.       ary  Diary,  ii,  545 ;   iii,  71,  145. 
May  Family,  85.     Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 


HEZEKIAH  GILBERT  was  a  son  of  David  Gilbert,  of 
New  Haven,  and  a  grandson  of  David  and  Experience 
(Perkins)  Gilbert. 

After  graduation  he  spent  some  months  in  Georgia, 
where  he  contracted  a  bilious  nervous  fever,  from  which, 
after  great  suffering,  he  died  in  New  Haven  on  October 
10,  1785,  in  his  23d  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Conn.  Journal,  Oct.  12,  1785. 


SAMUEL  GOODRICH,  the  third  son  of  the  Rev.  Elizur 
Goodrich  (Yale  1752),  of  Durham,  Connecticut,  was  born 
on  January  12,  1763.  He  united  with  the  college  church 
on  profession  of  faith  in  December  of  his  Junior  year. 

He  studied  theology  under  his  father's  direction,  and 
was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Association  of  New  Haven 
County,  on  September  28,  1784. 

After  having  declined  a  call  from  Farmington,  Con- 
necticut, and  another  (in  the  Summer  of  1785)  from 
Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  he  was  ordained  and  settled  at 
Ridgefield,  Connecticut,  on  the  6th  of  July,  1786,  with  a 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  273 

salary  of  £120,  his  father  preaching  the  sermon  and  giv- 
ing the  charge. 

The  church  and  society  flourished  under  his  super- 
vision, and  he  became  an  instrument  of  extensive  good  to 
the  people.  During  his  ministry  two  special  seasons  of 
revival  were  enjoyed,  and  large  additions  were  made  to 
the  church. 

On  the  22d  of  January,  1811,  at  his  own  request,  he  was 
dismissed  from  his  charge,  in  consequence  of  political 
differences;  and  four  months  later,  on  May  29,  he  was 
installed  in  Worthington  Society,  in  the  town  of  Berlin, 
Connecticut.  He  found  the  piety  of  that  church  in  a  low 
state,  from  which  the  revivals  enjoyed  under  his  ministry 
did  much  to  restore  it.  In  1831  his  health  became  feeble, 
and  he  requested  a  release  from  his  pastoral  charge;  but 
his  people  wishing  him  to  continue,  settled  a  colleague  in 
June  of  that  year.  His  colleague's  health  soon  failed, 
and  both  pastors  obtained  dismission  in  November,  1834. 

He  still  accepted  opportunities  of  preaching,  and  his 
latest  sermons  were  peculiarly  animated  and  effective. 

For  several  years  he  had  suffered  occasionally  from 
gout,  and  his  last  sickness  was  the  result  of  this  disease, 
culminating  in  apoplexy.  He  died  in  Berlin,  on  April  19, 
1835,  in  his  73d  year.  The  sermon  delivered  at  his 
funeral,  by  the  Rev.  Royal  Robbins,  of  the  same  town, 
was  subsequently  published,  and  bears  ungrudging  testi- 
mony to  his  integrity  and  faithfulness.  He  was  greatly 
esteemed  for  the  simplicity  and  sincerity  of  his  character. 

He  married,  on  July  29,  1784,  Elizabeth  (or  Betsey), 
second  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Ely,  of  Westbrook,  in 
Saybrook,  Connecticut,  and  sister  of  Dr.  Worthington 
Ely  (Yale  1780).  Their  children  were  seven  daughters 
and  three  sons.  The  eldest  daughter  married  succes- 
sively Amos  Cooke  (Yale  1791)  and  the  Hon.  Frederick 
Wolcott  (Yale  1786)  ;  the  second  daughter  married  the 
Rev.  Noah  Coe  (Yale  1808) ;  the  third  married  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Whittelsey  (Yale  1803) ;  the  fourth  married 

18 


274  Yale  College 

Daniel  Dunbar  (Yale  1794)  ;  the  fifth  married  the  Hon. 
Nathaniel  B.  Smith  (Yale  1815)  ;  and  the  youngest  mar- 
ried the  Rev.  Darius  Mead  (Yale  1828).  The  remaining 
daughter  died  in  infancy. 

The  eldest  son  was  graduated  here  in  1812,  and  fol- 
lowed his  father's  profession ;  the  second  chose  a  business 
career,  but  afterwards  achieved  fame  as  a  popular  writer, 
under  the  name  of  "Peter  Parley,"  and  received  an  hon- 
orary degree  from  Yale  in  1848;  the  third  died  in 
infancy. 

Mrs.  Goodrich  died  in  Berlin,  after  a  long  illness,  on 
March  3,  1837,  aged  73  years. 

He  published: — 

1.  A  Missionary   Sermon    [from   Phil,  i,   12],  delivered  in  the 
North  Presbyterian  Church  in  Hartford,  on  the  evening  of  May 
18,  1813,  at  the  request  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Missionary  Society 
of  Connecticut.     Hartford,  1813.    8°,  pp.  16.        [B.  Ath.     Y.  C. 

This  sermon  was  also  printed  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical 
Magazine  for  June,  1813,  pp.  201-10. 

2.  The  Duty  of  a  Gospel  Minister,  illustrated  in  a  Sermon  [from 
Jer.  xxvi,  2],  preached  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  October  9,  1816,  at 
the    Ordination    and    Installation    of    his    son,    the    Rev.    Charles 
Augustus  Goodrich  .  .  Worcester,  1816.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[B.  Ath.     Brown.     Y.  C. 

The  same.     Second  Edition.     Worcester,  1816.     8°. 

[Brit.  Mus. 

He  also  wrote  in  1800  a  history  of  the  town  of  Ridgefield,  which 
is  preserved  in  manuscript  in  the  Library  of  the  Wadsworth 
Athenaeum  in  Hartford. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Case,    Goodrich    Family,    75,    129.  Pres.   Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  568. 

Dzvight,  Strong  Family,  ii,  1289.     Ely  Talcott,  Geneal.  Notes  on  N.  Y.  and 

Ancestry,     52.       Fowler,     Chauncey  N.  E.  Families,  536-37.     Teller,  Hist. 

Memorials,  156,  163-68.    S.  G.  Good-  of  Ridgefield,  96-98.    Trumbull,  Mem- 

rich,  Recollections  of  a  Lifetime,   i,  orial  Hist,  of  Hartford  County,  ii,  19. 

16-17,  5IS-I6.  524-25,  531-32,  536,  539-  Tuttle  Family,  104-06. 
Sheldon,  Hist,  of  Deerfield,  ii,  774-75- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  275 

ORCHARD  GOULD,  the  eldest  child  of  Dr.  William  Gould, 
Junior,  of  Branford,  Connecticut,  by  his  third  wife,  Mary, 
daughter  of  Orchard  and  Mary  (Foote)  Guy,  of  Bran- 
ford,  was  born  on  March  I,  1764.  A  half-brother  was 
graduated  here  in  1771,  and  an  own  brother — the  distin- 
guished Judge  James  Gould — in  1791.  An  own  sister 
married  the  Hon.  Roger  M.  Sherman  (Yale  1792). 

He  followed  in  his  father's  footsteps  by  settling  in 
Branford  as  a  physician;  and  on  November  28,  1790,  he 
married  Polly  Rogers,  born  on  November  4,  1768,  the 
daughter  of  Edmund  and  Lydia  (Frisbie)  Rogers,  of 
Branford. 

In  the  Spring  of  1818  he  removed  with  his  wife  and  a 
married  daughter  to  the  neighborhood  of  Vincennes, 
Indiana ;  and  he  died  in  Carlisle,  about  twenty  miles  north 
of  Vincennes,  on  February  4,  1819,  aged  nearly  55  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  ii,  in.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  387. 


URIEL  GRIDLEY  was  born  in  Kensington  Society  in  Ber- 
lin, Connecticut,  on  January  9,  1762,  being  the  fourth 
child  of  Amos  and  Azubah  Gridley,  and  grandson  of  John 
Gridley. 

He  united  with  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his 
faith  in  December  of  his  Junior  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  (probably  with 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull),  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  New  Haven  County  Association  of  Minis- 
ters on  May  25,  1784. 

After  having  supplied  for  several  months  the  pulpit  in 
Watertown,  Connecticut,  he  was  ordained  as  colleague 
pastor  with  the  Rev.  John  Trumbull  (Yale  1735)  over 
that  church  on  May  25,  1785. 


276  Yale  College 

The  senior  pastor  died  in  December,  1787,  and  Mr. 
Gridley  continued  in  office  until  his  death,  in  Watertown, 
on  December  16,  1820,  in  his  59th  year. 

He  married,  two  days  before  his  ordination,  Susanna, 
daughter  of  Roger  and  Mary  (Pratt)  Norton,  of  Berlin, 
who  died  on  May  8,  1796,  in  her  33d  year. 

The  Rev.  Frederick  Gridley  (Yale  1816)  was  a  son.  A 
daughter  married  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alfred  Ely  (Princeton 
1804). 

Mr.  Gridley  married  secondly  Sylvia,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Abby  (Welton)  Fenn,  who  died  on  Decem- 
ber i,  1867,  in  her  93d  year. 

Mr.  Gridley  was  tall  and  bulky,  of  a  placid  temper,  and 
averse  to  bodily  exertion. 

During  his  ministry  232  persons  were  added  to  the 
church. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,  Churches  of  Mattatuck,       Litchfield   County   Consociations,   78. 
104.      Centennial  Proceedings  of  the       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  568. 


ISAAC  GRIGGS,  the  eldest  child  of  Noah  and  Hannah 
Griggs,  of  Watertown,  then  part  of  Waterbury,  Connec- 
ticut, was  born  on  April  n,  1760. 

Not  long  after  graduation  he  removed  to  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  where  he  studied  law  under  the  direction 
of  the  Hon.  Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1795. 

Gifted  with  a  sound  understanding,  thoroughly  well- 
read,  careful  and  exact,  cautious  in  arriving  at  conclu- 
sions, he  became  an  excellent  office  lawyer,  but  lacked  the 
ready  elocution  of  a  successful  pleader.  His  high  stand- 
ing at  the  bar  was  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  1811,  at 
the  election  for  Recorder  of  the  City  Court,  he  received 
but  one  vote  less  than  the  successful  candidate. 

He  died  of  consumption,  in  Charleston,  on  September 
16,  1816,  in  his  57th  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  277 

Several  children  survived  him. 

An  essay  on  metaphysics,  which  he  read  before  the 
Charleston  Literary  Society  in  1803,  is  said  to  have  been 
published. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,  Hist,  of  Waterbury,  i,  Sketches  of  the  Bench  and  Bar  of 
Appendix,  57.  Fraser,  Reminiscences  S.  C,  ii,  176-77.  Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 
of  Charleston,  80.  O'Neall,  Biogr.  ary  Diary,  ii,  388. 


ABIEL  HOLMES,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Captain 
and  Dr.  David  Holmes,  of  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  by 
his  second  wife,  Temperance,  eldest  child  of  John  and 
Temperance  (Lathrop)  Bishop,  of  Newent  Parish,  in  the 
present  town  of  Lisbon,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  Decem- 
ber 24,  1763.  The  Rev.  Stephen  Holmes  (Yale  1752) 
was  an  uncle.  His  father  died  the  March  before  he 
entered  college. 

He  united  with  the  College  Church  on  profession  of 
faith  in  March  of  his  Sophomore  year,  and  graduated 
with  the  intention  of  entering  the  ministry. 

Being  engaged  in  teaching  in  South  Carolina  in  May, 
1784,  he  was  invited  by  the  Congregational  Church 
and  Society  in  Midway,  Georgia,  in  the  present  township 
of  Sunbury,  about  thirty  miles  southwest  of  Savannah, 
to  preach  to  them  for  one  year,  with  a  salary  of  £150. 
He  accordingly  began  this  work  in  August,  1784,  and  on 
coming  North  for  a  visit  in  the  summer  of  1785,  was 
desired  by  the  Church  to  secure  ordination.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  College  Corporation,  sitting  as  an  ecclesiastical 
council,  performed  his  ordination  on  September  15,  and 
he  returned  to  his  pastoral  charge  in  November. 

His  health  being  somewhat  impaired,  he  came  North  in 
the  summer  of  1786,  and  his  place  was  filled  for  a  year  by 
his  fellow-townsman  and  classmate,  Tutor  Jedidiah 
Morse,  while  Mr.  Holmes  assumed  the  duties  of  the 
College  Tutorship  which  Mr.  Morse  had  vacated. 


278  Yale  College 

He  served  as  Tutor  from  November,  1786,  to  October, 
1787,  and  in  the  summer  of  1787  the  sermon  delivered  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Levi  Hart  two  years  before  at  his  ordination 
was  printed,  and  Mr.  Holmes  appended  to  it  a  Pastoral 
Letter  addressed  to  his  flock. 

After  the  end  of  the  College  year,  he  returned  to 
Georgia,  and  continued  there  in  great  harmony  with  his 
people  until  June,  1791,  when  his  own  health  and  that  of 
his  wife  became  so  much  affected  by  the  climate  that  he 
felt  obliged  to  resign. 

Several  opportunities  for  settlement  at  the  North  were 
soon  open  to  him,  and  in  September  he  began  to  preach 
as  a  candidate  in  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, which  called  him  to  the  pastorate  on  October  19, 
with  a  salary  of  £162.  He  accepted  this  call  on  December 
5,  and  was  installed  on  January  25,  1792;  the  sermon 
delivered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Dana,  of  New  Haven, 
was  afterwards  published. 

In  this  conspicuous  pulpit,  with  the  students  and 
Faculty  of  Harvard  College  for  a  part  of  his  audience 
for  many  years,  he  maintained  himself  with  credit 
through  a  long  ministry.  Of  a  cautious  and  conservative 
temperament,  and  a  lover  of  peace,  he  was  able,  while 
himself  firmly  orthodox,  to  live  in  harmony  with  his  con- 
gregation, many  of  whom  were  Unitarian  in  their  sym- 
pathies; but  at  length,  in  June,  1829,  after  two  years  of 
uncomfortable  controversy,  with  two-thirds  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  he  withdrew  from  the  Parish,  and 
united  in  the  formation  of  a  new  Society.  On  December 
17,  1829,  a  colleague  pastor  was  settled,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  age  and  increasing  infirmities  Dr.  Holmes 
resigned  his  charge  on  September  26,  1831. 

He  continued  to  preach  occasionally  until  a  few  months 
before  his  death.  In  March,  1837,  he  began  to  be 
seriously  unwell.  The  last  week  in  May  he  suffered  a 
severe  paralytic  shock,  and  his  death  followed,  in  Cam- 
bridge, on  June  4,  in  his  74th  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  279 

Dr.  Holmes  was  married  in  New  Haven,  on  August 
29,  1790,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Wales,  to  Mary  (Polly), 
the  youngest  daughter  of  President  Ezra  Stiles.  She 
died  in  Cambridge,  after  more  than  two  years  of  feeble 
health,  on  the  anniversary  of  her  wedding-day,  August 
29,  1795,  aged  28  years.  She  had  no  children,  and  he 
next  married,  on  March  26,  1801,  Sarah,  only  daughter 
of  the  Hon.  Oliver  Wendell  (Harvard  1753),  and  Mary 
(Quincy)  Wendell,  of  Boston,  who  long  survived  him, 
dying  in  Cambridge  on  August  19,  1862,  in  her  94th  year. 

By  this  marriage  he  had  three  daughters  and  two  sons ; 
the  latter  were  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  in  1829  and 
1832  respectively, — the  elder  adding  distinction  to  the 
family  name  by  his  place  in  American  literature.  The 
eldest  daughter  married  Usher  Parsons,  M.D.,  and  the 
second  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Charles  W.  Upham 
(Harvard' 1821). 

Dr.  Holmes's  connection  with  President  Stiles,  and 
service  as  his  literary  executor,  doubtless  had  an  influence 
in  directing  his  studies  in  an  historical  channel.  His 
interest  in  such  matters  led  to  his  early  membership  and 
abiding  interest  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
which  he  served  as  Corresponding  Secretary  for  twenty 
years,  from  1813  to  1833. 

He  was  also  a  director  in  many  other  associations,  and 
active  in  the  various  branches  of  denominational  work. 
He  was  especially  interested  in  the  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  of  which  he  was  a  Trustee  from  1809  until  his 
death.  He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh  in  1805,  and 
that  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  Alleghany  College,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1822. 

In  his  later  years  he  was  accounted  among  the  wealth- 
iest of  the  orthodox  clergy  in  New  England. 

He  published : — 

i.  A  Sermon  [from  Deut.  xxxiii,  29],  on  the  Freedom  and 
Happiness  of  America;  Preached  at  Cambridge,  February  19,  1795, 


280  Yale  College 

the    day    appointed    .  .     for    a    National    Thanksgiving.      Boston. 
1795.     8°,  pp.  31. 

[A.  A.  S.  A.  C.  A.  B.  Ath.  Brit.  Mus.  C.  H.  S.  Harv. 
M.  H.  S.  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  U.  T.  S.  Y.  C. 

2.  The  Life  of  Ezra  Stiles,  D.D.  LL.D.  .  .  Boston,   1798.     8°, 
pp.  404  +  pi. 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Bowdoin  Coll.  Brit.  Mus. 
J.  Carter  Broivn  TJ.br.  Harv.  M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  U.  T.  S.  Y.  C. 

A  contribution  to  Yale  history  of  great  value. 

3.  A  Sermon  [from  i  Cor.  xiv,  19],  preached  at  the  Ordination 
of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Whitaker,  .  .  in  Sharon,  Massachusetts,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1799.    Dedham,  1799.    8°,  pp.  49. 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  Brit.  Mus.  Brown  Univ.  C.  H.  S.  Harv. 
M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Y.  C. 

The  sermon  and  notes  upon  it  occupy  pp.  1-36. 

4.  A  Sermon   [from  2  Chron.  xxxii,  5-8]   preached  at  Brattle- 
Street  Church,  in  Boston,  and  at  Cambridge,  April  25,  1799,  the  day 
appointed  .  .  for  a  National  Fast.     Boston,  1799.     8°,  pp.  31. 

[A.  A.  S.  A.  C.  S.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Bowdoin  Coll.  Brit.  Mus. 
J.  Carter  Broivn  Libr.  Brown  Univ.  C.  H.  S.  Harv.  M.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  Y.  C. 

The  author  shows  his  strong  sympathy  with  the  Federalists. 

5.  A  Sermon   [from  Lam.  ii,   13],  preached  at  Cambridge  the 
Lord's    Day    after    the    Interment    of    His    Excellency,    Increase 
Sumner,  Esquire,  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachu- 
setts, who  died  June  7,  1799,  ^Etat.  53.     Boston.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Brit.  Mus. 
Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     Harv.     M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

6.  A  Sermon  [from  Isa.  iii,  1-3],  preached  at  Cambridge,  on  the 
Lord's-Day,  December  29,  1799,  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  George 
Washington.  .  . .     Boston,  1800.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     Harv. 
N.Y.H.S.     Y.C. 

7.  The   Counsel   of   Washington,   recommended   in   a   Discourse 
[from  Micah  iv,  9],  Delivered  at  Cambridge,  February  22,  1800. 
Boston,  1800.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  Brown  Univ.  C.  H.  S.  Harv.  M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.  Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  281 

The  title-page  has  a  poetical  quotation  from  Honeywood,  of  the 
Class  of  1782,  a  warm  personal  friend. 

8.  A  Sermon    [from  Deut.  xviii,  6-7],  preached,  December   10, 
1800,  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Reverend  Otis  Lane  .  .  in  Stur- 
bridge.     Cambridge,  1801.     8°,  pp.  36. 

[B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

9.  A  Sermon  [  from  Deut.  xxxii,  7] ,  preached  at  Cambridge,  Jan- 
uary 4,    1 80 1,   the   first   Lord's   Day   in  the   Nineteenth    Century. 
Cambridge,  1801.     8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.    Harv.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

10.  The  History  of  Cambridge.     Boston,  1801.     8°,  pp.  67. 

[A.  A.  S.     Bowdoin  ColL     Harv.     M.  H.  S.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
Y.  C. 

A  reprint  from  the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  for  1800  (volume  7  of  the  First  Series). 

11.  A  Sermon  [from  ATatth.  x,  16],  preached,  October  20,  1802, 
at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  David  Kendal   .  .   in  Hubbardston. 
Worcester,  1803.     8°,  pp.  36. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brown  Univ.     M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-28. 

12.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Cor.  ii,  14],  delivered  before  the  Massa- 
chusetts Missionary  Society,  at  their  Annual  Meeting  in  Boston, 
May  29,  1804.     Cambridge,  1804.     8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     Harv. 
M.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

13.  A  Sermon    [from  Dan.  xii,  3],  delivered  at  Cambridge  30 
September,  1804,  the  first  Lord's  Day  after  the  Interment  of  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Willard,  S.T.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege. ...     Cambridge,  1804.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.     Bowdoin  Coll.     C.  H.  S.     Harv. 
M.  H.  S. 

14.  American  Annals;    or  a  chronological  History  of  America 
from  its  discovery  in   1492  to   1806.      Cambridge,   1805.      2   vol- 
umes.    8°. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     R.  I.' Hist.  Soc.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.     London,  1813.     2  volumes.     8°.  [Brit.  Mus. 


282  Yale  College 

The  same.     Second  edition,  with  title : — 

The  Annals  of  America,  from  the  discovery  by  Columbus  in  the 
year  1492,  to  the  year  1826.     Cambridge,  1829.    2  volumes.    8°. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv. 
M.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  H.  S.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     Y.  C. 

A  work  of  laborious  research,  and  of  much  usefulness  in  its  day. 

15.  A  Sermon  [from  I  Thess.  ii,  7],  delivered  at  the  Ordination 
of  the  Reverend  William   Bascom    .  .    in   Fitchburg,   16  October, 
1805.     Cambridge,  1805.     8°,  pp.  31. 

[B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-24. 

16.  A  Discourse  [from  Rom.  ix,  5],  delivered  at  Plymouth,  22 
December,   1806,  at  the  Anniversary  Commemoration  of  the  first 
landing  of  the  Fathers,  A.D.  1620.     Cambridge,  1806.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     Harv.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

17.  A  Discourse    [from  Acts  xi,  24],  delivered  at  Cambridge, 
August   29,    1803,    at   the    Funeral   of    the    Rev.    David   Tappan, 
D.D.  .  .  pp.  22. 

In    Dr.    Tappan's    Sermons    on    important    subjects.      Boston, 
1807.     8°. 

18.  A    Discourse    [from    Ps.    Ixxii,    17],    delivered    before    the 
Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians  and  others 
in  North  America,  at  their  Anniversary  Meeting  in  Boston,  Novem- 
ber 3,  1808.     Boston,  1808.     8°,  pp.  68. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.      Brit.  Mus.      C.  H.  S.      Harv.      M.  H.  S. 

N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 
The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-43. 

19.  A   Sermon    [from  Jer.   ii,    17-19],   preached   at   Cambridge, 
April  6,  1809,  the  day  of  the  Public  Fast.     Cambridge,  1809.     8°, 
pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.     A.   C.  A.     B.  Ath,     Brit.  Mus.     Brown   Univ. 
C.  H.  S.     Harv.     M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

20.  A  Sermon    [from  Haggai  ii,  7]   delivered  at  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Cambridge,  by  the  request  of  the  Wardens  and  Vestry, 
December  25,  1809,  in  celebration  of  the  Nativity  of  our  Blessed 
Saviour.     Cambridge,  1810.    8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath,    Brit.  Mus.  ' C.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

Preached  at  a  time  when  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Cambridge  was 
for  the  most  part  supplied  with  lay-readers. 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  283 

21.  A  Discourse  [from  i  Cor.  iv,  i]  on  the  Validity  of  Presby- 
terian Ordination,  delivered  in  the  Chapel  of  the  University  in  Cam- 
bridge, May  9,  1810,  at  the^Anniversary  Lecture  founded  by  the 
Hon.  Paul  Dudley,  Esq.    Cambridge,  1810.    8°,  pp.  44. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  publication  was  requested  by  a  committee  of  the  students, 
Edward  Everett  being  one. 

22.  A  Sermon  [from  Phil,  i,  17],  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of 
the  Rev.  John  Bartlett   ..    in  Marblehead,  22  May,   1811.     Cam- 
bridge, 1811.     8°,  pp.  47. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brozvn  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.      Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-33. 

23.  A  Sermon  [from  Acts  xiv,  12],  delivered  at  the  Inauguration 
of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Porter,  A.M.  to  the  office  of  Bartlet  Pro- 
fessor of  Sacred  Rhetoric  in  the  Theological  Institution  at  Andover, 
April  i,  1812.  .  .     Boston,  1812.    8°,  pp.  31. 

[B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

24.  A  Discourse   [from  Mai.  i,  n].  delivered  at  the  Old  South 
Church  in  Boston  before  the  Society  for  Foreign  Missions  of  Bos- 
ton and  the  vicinity,  Jan.  i,  1813.  . .     Cambridge,  1813.    8°,  pp.  36. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

25.  An  Address,   delivered   before   the  Washington   Benevolent 
Society  at  Cambridge,  5  July,  1813     Cambridge,  1813.    8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

On  Washington ;  largely  a  resume  of  Nos.  6  and  7  above. 

26.  A  Sermon  [from  i  Cor.  ix,  22],  delivered  at  the  Ordination 
of  Rev.  Thomas  Brattle  Gannett  .  .  in  Cambridgeport,  Jan.  19,  1814. 
Cambridge,  1814.    8°,  pp.  36. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.  .B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv. 

M.  H.  S.    N.Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 
The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-28. 

27.  An  Address  delivered  before  the  American  Antiquarian  Soci- 
ety, in  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  on  their  second  Anniversary,  October 
24,  1814.    Boston,  1814.    8°,  pp.  29. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 


284  Yale  College 

28.  An   Historical    Sketch  of   the   English   Translations  of   the 
Bible,  by  a   Member  of  the  Massachusetts  Bible   Society.      1815. 
8°,  pp.  24.  [Harv.    Y.  C. 

29.  A  Discourse  [from  Mark  xiv,  7],  delivered  at  the  opening  of 
the  New  Almshouse  in  Cambridge  17  September,  1818.    Cambridge, 

1818.  8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 
U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

30.  A  Sermon   [from  Titus  i,  7],  delivered  before  the  Conven- 
tion of  the   Congregational   Ministers  of   Massachusetts,  at  their 
Annual  Meeting  in  Boston,  xxvii  May,  MDCCCXIX.    Cambridge, 

1819.  8°,  pp.  36. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

31.  Two  Discourses  [from  Ps.  Ixxviii,  2-4],  on  the  completion  of 
the  second  century  from  the  Landing  of  the  Forefathers  of  New 
England  at  Plymouth,  22  Dec.   1620,  delivered  at  Cambridge  24 
Dec.  1820.    Cambridge.  1821.    8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    Y.  C. 

32.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Tim.  iv,  5-7],  delivered  at  the  Funeral  of 
the  Rev.  David  Osgood,  D.D.  . .  ;   who  died  12  December,  1822  .  . 
Cambridge,  1822.    8°,  pp.  24. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  S. 

33.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Cor.  xii,  19],  delivered  at  the  Ordination 
of  the  Rev.  Plosea  Hildreth,  A.M.  .  .  in  Gloucester,  August  3,  1825. 
Cambridge,  1825.    8°,  pp.  30. 

[A.  A.  S.    'Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-19. 

34.  Two  Sermons  [from  2  Cor.  iv,  5,  and  Ez.  ii,  7],  preached  at 
Cambridge,  25  January,  1829,  the  37th  Anniversary  of  the  Author's 
Installation.     Cambridge,  1829.     8°,  pp.  31. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    Y.  C. 

35.  An  Account  of  the  Controversy  in  the  First  Parish  in  Cam- 
bridge.   1827-1829  .  .     Boston,  1829.    12°,  pp.  58.     [A.  A.  S.    Y.  C. 

An  anonymous  narrative  of  the  events  in  relation  to  the  separa- 
tion of  Dr.  Holmes  from  his  parish.  This  was  replied  to  in  a  pam- 
phlet issued  by  the  parish,  also  in  1829,  with  the  title,  Controversy 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  285 

betzveen  the  First  Parish  in  Cambridge  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Holmes, 
their  late  Pastor. 

Dr.  Holmes  was  also  the  editor  of  the  following  volume: 

A  Family  Tablet:  containing  a  Selection  of  Original  Poetry. 
Boston,  1796.  12°,  pp.  x,  81.  [Brit.  Mus.  Harv.  Y.  C. 

This  collection  was  almost  entirely  composed  by  members  of  the 
family  of  President  Stiles,  and  Dr.  Holmes  and  his  wife  were  the 
largest  contributors.  See  a  notice  in  the  Historical  Magazine,  vol. 
xiv,  pp.  276-77. 

He  published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  volume  iii,  pp.  107-12,  Cambridge,  1809: — 

Account  of  meteorological  Observations,  made  in  Georgia  and 
South  Carolina. 

He  also  contributed  many  articles  to  various  periodicals  and  to 
the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society ;  and  a  num- 
ber of  these,  in  addition  to  a  few  already  specified,  were  printed 
in  separate  editions. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Ammidown,    Hist.     Collections,    i,  New  Series,  iv,  278-79.      R.  I.  Hist. 

390-91.       Cambridge     First     Church  Society's  Publications,  New  Series,  ii, 

Records,      282-86,      438-40,      442-48.  172.     Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Ameri- 

Harris,     Cambridge     Epitaphs,     147.  can  Pulpit,  ii,  240-46.      Pres.  Stiles, 

Jameson,  The  Cogswells  in  America,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  518;    iii,  181,  184, 

22.     Mackenzie,  Hist,  of  First  Church  i86-S8,  244-45,  284.  401,  405,  421,  428- 

of  Cambridge,   168-216.     Mass.  Hist.  29,  432,  434,  436,  439,  441-43,  489,  566. 

Society's   Collections,   3d   Series,   vii,  Talcott,  Geneal.  Notes  of  N.  Y.  and 

270-82.     Midway  Church  Records,  i,  N.  E. 'Families,  394. 
passim.       Putnam's    Hist.    Magazine, 


SAMUEL  RUSSELL  JOCELIN  was  a  son  of  Captain  Ama- 
ziah  Jocelin,  of  New  Haven,  and  grandson  of  Nathaniel 
and  Ann  (Wads worth)  Jocelin,  of  East  Haven,  Connec- 
ticut. His  mother  was  probably  a  daughter  of  Samuel 
Russell,  Junior,  of  East  Haven. 

He  studied  law,  and  settled  in  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina,  where  he  attained  a  distinguished  position  at  the 
bar. 

He  died  in  Wilmington,  early  in  January,  1817. 


286  Vale  College 

He  married  in  New  Haven,  before  his  graduation,  on 
June  1 6,  1783,  Almira,  eldest  child  of  Joseph  and  Hannah 
(Hitchcock)  Howell,  of  New  Haven.  She  died  in  Wil- 
mington, in  May,  1811,  aged  44  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  i,  16.     Conn.  Journal,  Jan.  28,  1817. 


ROBERT  CHARLES  JOHNSON,  a  son  of  the  Hon.  William 
Samuel  Johnson  (Yale  1744),  and  a  brother  of  Samuel 
William  Johnson  (Yale  1779),  was  born  in  Stratford, 
Connecticut,  on  May  i,  1766.  He  was  chosen  the  Vale- 
dictory Orator  of  his  Class  at  graduation. 

He  studied  law  and  settled  in  his  native  town,  and 
married  on  August  27,  1795,  Katherine  Ann,  daughter  of 
the  Hon.  Nicholas  and  Catherine  (Livingston)  Bayard, 
of  New  York  City.  Three  daughters  and  a  son  were 
born  to  them  before  her  death  on  April  9,  1806. 

His  own  death  followed,  after  a  lingering  illness,  in 
Stratford,  on  the  24th  of  the  ensuing  September,  in  his 
41  st  year;  and  his  children  were  taken  into  the  family  of 
their  uncle,  Samuel  William  Johnson,  at  Stratford.  The 
eldest  daughter  married  Thomas  P.  Devereux  (Yale 
1813) ;  and  the  youngest  daughter  married  first  Anthony 
Rutgers  (Princeton  1819),  and  secondly  the  Rev.  Robert 
Birch  (Dickinson  Coll.  1828).  Professor  Charles  F. 
Johnson  (Yale  1855)  and  Professor  William  Woolsey 
Johnson  (Yale  1862)  are  grandsons. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  good-looking,  of  medium  height,  per- 
sonally active,  and  very  fond  of  horses,  being  a  fine  rider. 
He  was  high-spirited  and  aristocratic,  both  in  tempera- 
ment and  bearing. 

In  the  History  of  Stratford  extracts  are  printed  from 
two  letters  of  his,  in  1787,  descriptive  of  his  speeches  in 
town-meeting  in  behalf  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  287 

AUTHORITIES. 

Professor  Chas.  F.   Johnson,  MS.       Stratford,  i,  423-25 ;    ii,  1226.     Pres. 
Letter,  June  23,  1906.     N.  Y.  Geneal.       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  80. 
Record,    xii,    17.       Orcutt,    Hist,    of 


EBENEZER  KINGSBURY,  the  youngest  son  of  Captain 
and  Deacon  Ebenezer  Kingsbury,  of  (North)  Coventry, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Captain  and  Deacon  Joseph 
and  Ruth  (Denison)  Kingsbury,  of  Norwich  West 
Farms,  now  Franklin,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  August 
30,  1762.  His  mother  was  Priscilla,  daughter  of  Captain 
Nathaniel  and  Hannah  (Denison)  Kingsbury,  of  that 
part  of  Windham  which  is  now  Hampton,  Connecticut, 
and  a  double  first  cousin  of  her  husband.  He  united  with 
the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his  faith  in  December 
of  his  Junior  year. 

He  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Backus 
(Yale  1769),  of  Somers,  Connecticut;  and  after  some 
service  elsewhere,  he  was  sent  by  the  Connecticut  Mission- 
ary Society  as  a  home  missionary  to  Vermont.  He  was 
ordained  on  June  22,  1791,  as  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Jericho,  Chittenden  County,  in  northwestern  Vermont, 
and  was  dismissed  from  this  charge  on  May  17,  1808. 

He  then  visited  Western  New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 
in  the  service  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut, 
and  on  February  21,  1810,  received  a  call  to  settle  as 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Harford, 
Susquehanna  County,  in  the  northeastern  part  of 
Pennsylvania. 

He  accepted  the  call,  and  was  installed  on  August  4, 
1810. 

By  an  arrangement  which  continued  throughout  his 
pastorate  he  spent  one-half  of  his  time  in  ministering  to 
destitute  places  in  the  surrounding  region,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut.  He 
traveled  thus  over  a  large  district,  and  assisted  in  the  for- 


288  Yale  College 

mation  of  many  churches.  Meantime  his  own  church 
prospered,  and  enjoyed  several  seasons  of  special  interest. 

His  pastoral  relation  to  the  Church  in  Harford  was 
dissolved  on  September  19,  1827,  but  for  several  years 
after  this  for  a  portion  of  the  time  he  continued  to  per- 
form missionary  labors  with  various  feeble  churches  in 
the  vicinity,  which  esteemed  him  highly.  For  the  last 
five  or  six  years  of  his  life  he  seldom  preached. 

He  died  in  Harford  on  March  22,  1842,  in  his  8oth 
year. 

He  married,  on  February  n,  1792,  Mary,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Reynolds,  of  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts.  She 
died  in  Jericho,  Vermont,  in  December,  1792,  in  her  28th 
year,  and  her  infant  son  was  buried  with  her. 

He  next  married,  on  February  8,  1794,  Hannah,  the 
younger  sister  of  his  classmate  Williston,  who  died  in 
Harford,  on  March  23,  1859,  in  her  89th  year. 

By  this  marriage  he  had  three  daughters  and  six  sons. 

During  his  residence  in  Vermont  he  was  accounted  a 
man  of  influence  among  the  clergy  of  that  day.  He  was 
chosen  by  the  General  Convention  of  Congregational 
Ministers  of  the  State  in  1805  to  preach  the  annual  ser- 
mon at  the  Commencement  of  Middlebury  College. 


AUTHORITIES. 

John  M.  Comstock,  MS.  Letter,  D.  Higbie,  MS.  Letter,  July  7,  1845. 
June  21,  1905.  Conn.  Evangelical  Kulp,  Families  of  Wyoming  Valley, 
Magazine,  2d  Series,  iii,  25-26;  vii,  ii,  881-82.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
30.  Dimock,  Coventry  Records,  68.  Diary,  ii,  568.  Talcott,  Kingsbury 
Dwight,  Strong  Family,  ii,  1153.  Rev.  Genealogy,  215,  247-48. 


ELIJAH  LEONARD,  a  son  of  Deacon  Elijah  and  Hannah 
Leonard,  of  Raynham,  Massachusetts,  and  a  grandson  of 
Deacon  and  Captain  Samuel  Leonard,  of  Raynham,  was 
born  on  April  28,  1760. 

He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1779;  but  towards  the 
close  of  the  Sophomore  year  removed  to  Yale,  in  accord- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  289 

ance  with  the  advice  of  his  first  cousin,  Professor  Samuel 
Wales. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Reed  (Yale  1772),  of  West  Bridgewater,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  preached  as  a  candidate  in  various  pulpits 
(as  in  Hebron,  Connecticut).  In  1787-88  he  spent  some 
months  in  evangelistic  work  in  New  Hampshire. 

He  was  ordained  on  January  n,  1789,  as  colleague 
pastor  with  the  Rev.  Atherton  Wales  (Harvard  1726) 
over  the  Second  Congregational  Church  in  Marshfield, 
Massachusetts,  with  a  salary  of  about  £90.  The  ordina- 
tion sermon  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Perez  Fobes  (Harvard 
1762),  the  pastor  of  his  youth,  then  Professor  in  Brown 
University,  was  subsequently  published. 

On  May  13,  1792,  Mr.  Leonard  married  Molly  Wales, 
the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Perez  and  Prudence 
(Wales)  Fobes,  of  Providence,  her  mother  being  his  first 
cousin.  She  died  on  November  29,  1801,  in  her  3Oth 
year,  and  he  next  married,  on  October  16,  1804,  Mary, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Delano,  of  South  Scituate,  Massa- 
chusetts, who  died  in  Marshfield  in  April,  1835,  aged  58 
years. 

Mr.  Leonard's  colleague  died  at  an  advanced  age  in 
November,  1795,  and  he  continued  sole  pastor  until  his 
death,  in  Marshfield,  on  February  8,  1834,  aged  nearly  74 
years. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters (both  of  whom  died  in  infancy),  and  by  his  second 
marriage  one  son,  who  was  drowned  in  boyhood. 

His  salary  was  small,  but  he  made  sacrifices  to  secure 
an  education  for  his  second  son,  the  Rev.  George  Leonard, 
who  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1823,  and  succeeded 
his  father  in  his  pastorate  in  Marshfield  and  held  office 
for  thirty  years,  making  a  total  period  of  service  for 
father  and  son  in  the  same  Society  of  seventy-five  years. 
The  two  sons  of  the  Rev.  George  Leonard  were  also  grad- 
uated at  Harvard. 
19 

.*^5f»AH^>v 
f          or  THF          V 

B    UNIVERSITY  ) 


290  Yale  College 

Elijah  Leonard  was  a  typical  Puritan  minister,  much 
respected  and  beloved  by  his  people  and  the  entire  com- 
munity. As  a  preacher  he  was  direct  and  fearless  in 
speech,  and  absolutely  sincere  and  honest  in  word  and 
deed. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Delano  Genealogy,  279.    Miss.  S.  E.       ii,    203.      Sprague,    Annals    of    the 
Leonard,  MS.  Letter,  April  i,  1907.       Amer.   Pulpit,   i,  646.      Pres.  Stiles, 
N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,  v,       Literary  Diary,  ii,  541. 
412.      Richards,  Hist,  of  Marshfield, 


SETH  LEWIS,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Job  Lewis,  of 
Southington,  then  part  of  Farmington,  Connecticut,  and 
brother  of  Oliver  Lewis  (Yale  1780),  was  born  in  South- 
ington on  June  24,  1759. 

He  studied  law  for  a  time,  but  did  not  follow  the  pro- 
fession. For  several  years  he  had  a  store  and  tavern  in 
Southington,  where  he  was  also  Postmaster.  He  was  an 
adherent  of  Jefferson  in  politics,  and  had  the  reputation  of 
being  very  high-spirited  and  quick  to  resent  insults. 

He  died  in  Southington  on  March  26,  1808,  in  his  49th 
year. 

He  married,  on  March  9,  1788,  Rhoda,  a  younger  sister 
of  his  classmate  Cole. 

She  died  on  March  30,  1854,  aged  88  years.  Their 
children  were  five  daughters  and  two  sons.  The  second 
daughter  married  her  father's  own  cousin,  Addin  Lewis 
(Yale  1803),  and  her  next  younger  sister  married  Dr. 
Timothy  Jones  (Yale  1804). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Loomis  Female  Genealogy,  i,  228.       Appendix,  158,  160. 
Timlow,   Hist,   of   Southington,   517, 


LYNDE  LORD,  Junior,  the  second  and  only  surviving 
child  of  Lynde  Lord,  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Richard  and  Elizabeth  (Lynde)  Lord,  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  291 

Lyme,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  October  21,  1761.  His 
mother  was  Lois,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Elisha  Sheldon 
(Yale  1730),  of  Litchfield.  He  was  prepared  for  College 
by  the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins,  of  Norfolk. 

He  settled  as  a  lawyer  in  Litchfield,  and  served  as 
Deputy  Sheriff  under  his  father,  who  was  long  the  Sheriff 
of  the  County. 

He  died  in  Litchfield  on  February  12,  1813,  in  his  52d 
year.  A  miniature  portrait  is  preserved  in  the  family. 

He  married  on  January  30,  1786,  Mary,  elder  sister 
of  his  classmate  Lyman,  and  the  child  of  his  second  cousin. 

She  died  on  May  13,  1843,  in  her  8oth  year. 

Their  children  were  two  daughters  and  seven  sons ;  the 
elder  daughter  married  the  Rev.  John  Pierpont  (Yale 
1804).  

AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight,  Strong  Family,  ii,  1125.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  539. 
Payne,  Litchfield  and  Morris  Inscrip-  Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i,  159; 
tions,  31.  Salisbury,  Family  His-  ii,  741-43.  Woodruff,  Geneal.  Regis- 
tories  and  Genealogies,  i,  300-01.  ter  of  Litchfield,  134. 


JOSEPH  LYMAN,  the  younger  son  of  Captain  Joseph 
Lyman,  a  farmer  in  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  and 
grandson  of  Joseph  and  Abigail  (Lewis)  Lyman,  of 
Northampton,  was  born  on  October  27,  1767.  His 
mother  was  Mary,  third  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Mary 
(Strong)  Sheldon,  of  Northampton.  An  accident  in 
childhood  was  the  cause  of  such  delicate  health  that  his 
parents  decided  to  send  him  to  College,  instead  of  keeping 
him  upon  the  farm.  He  pursued  his  classical  studies 
under  the  guidance  of  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Williams  (Yale  1770). 

After  graduation  he  was  employed  for  a  while  in  teach- 
ing school,  and  studied  law  under  the  direction  of  the 
Hon.  Caleb  Strong  (Harvard  1764),  of  Northampton. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  January,  1787,  and 
opened  an  office  about  1789  in  Worthington,  Massachu- 


292  Yale  College 

setts,  but  soon  removed  to  Westfield  to  take  the  place 
vacated  by  the  death  of  a  personal  friend.  There  he 
practiced  for  seven  years,  and  he  represented  that  town 
once  or  twice  in  the  Legislature. 

From  Westfield  he  returned  to  Northampton,  in  1798, 
and  was  then  appointed  Clerk  of  the  County  Courts, — a 
position  which  he  held  until  1810,  when  he  was  appointed 
Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  and  of  Probate.  The  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  was  abolished  in  1811,  when  the  old 
Hampshire  County  was  divided.  He  resigned  the  Pro- 
bate Judgeship  in  1816,  when  he  was  appointed  Sheriff, 
and  this  latter  office  he  held  with  great  dignity  and  fidelity 
until  his  resignation  in  1844. 

In  the  Summer  of  1841  he  suffered  from  a  shock  of 
paralysis,  which  was  followed  at  intervals  by  other 
attacks,  more  or  less  severe,  until  the  last  and  severest  of 
all,  which  closed  his  life,  in  Northampton,  on  December 
u,  1847,  m  ms  8ist  year.  A  memorial  discourse  by  the 
Rev.  Rufus  Ellis  was  published. 

Judge  Lyman  married,  on  January  10,  1792,  Elizabeth, 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Fowler  (Yale  1768), 
of  Westfield,  who  died  on  July  16,  1808,  in  her  37th  year. 

He  next  married,  on  October  30,  1811,  Anne  Jean,  the 
third  daughter  and  child  of  Lieutenant  Governor  Edward 
H.  and  Elizabeth  (Murray)  Robbins,  of  Milton,  Massa- 
chusetts. She  left  Northampton  some  two  years  after 
her  husband's  death,  and  fixed  her  residence  at  first  in 
Milton  and  later  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  Her 
mental  powers  gradually  failed,  and  she  died  in  the 
McLean  Asylum  at  Somerville,  Massachusetts,  on  May 
24,  1867,  in  her  79th  year.  A  beautiful  record  of  her 
life  and  character,  by  one  of  her  daughters,  has  been 
published  (Recollections  of  My  Mother,  by  Susan  I. 
Lesley).  Their  home  was  the  center  of  a  most  refined 
and  abundant  hospitality. 

Judge  Lyman's  children  by  his  first  marriage  were  four 
daughters  and  two  sons,  the  younger  of  whom  was  grad- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  293 

uated  at  Harvard  College  in  1818.  By  his  second  mar- 
riage he  had  two  sons  (the  elder  of  whom  was  graduated 
at  Harvard  in  1830)  and  three  daughters.  The  second 
daughter  married  Professor  J.  Peter  Lesley  (Univ.  of 
Pa.  1838). 

Judge  Lyman  was  gifted  with  striking  personal  endow- 
ments, rare  amiability  of  temper,  and  a  peculiar  social 
charm.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Convention 
in  1814,  and  of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  in 
1820.  An  engraving  from  his  portrait  by  Chester  Hard- 
ing is  given  in  his  wife's  Memoir. 

He  was  a  trustee  of  Williams  College  from  1814  to 
1832.  He  was  the  President  of  the  Hampshire  Bank  of 
Northampton  during  the  whole  period  of  its  existence. 
He  was  a  strong  pillar  in  the  Second  Congregational 
(Unitarian)  Society  of  Northampton,  in  the  formation  of 
which  he  took  a  prominent  part. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bridgman,  Northampton  Epitaphs,      Strong  Family,  ii,  1125-26.    Westfield 
90.     Coleman,  Lyman  Family,  392-94.       Bi-centennial,  201. 
Dwight,   Dwight  Family,   ii,  906-07; 


JOSIAH  MASTERS,  son  of  James  and  Eunice  Masters, 
and  grandson  of  Nicholas  Masters,  an  emigrant  from  the 
Isle  of  Guernsey,  and  Elizabeth  (Shelton)  Masters,  was 
born  in  Woodbury,  Connecticut,  on  October  [or  Novem- 
ber] 22,  1763.  His  father  probably  lived  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  town  of  Washington,  but  in  the  year 
of  his  son's  graduation  he  removed  to  Schaghticoke, 
Rensselaer  County,  New  York.  The  son  entered  College 
at  the  opening  of  the  Sophomore  year,  and  while  here  was 
an  attendant  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Two  elder  brothers  were  also  members  of  College  (one 
in  the  Class  of  1779  and  one  in  the  Class  of  1783),  but 
left  early. 


294  Yale  College 

On  graduating  he  followed  his  father  to  Schaghticoke, 
where  his  residence  remained  throughout  his  life. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Assembly  during  three 
sessions  of  the  Legislature,  in  1792-93  and  1800-01.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  United  States  Congress  during 
the  Ninth  and  Tenth  Sessions,  from  December,  1805,  to 
March,  1809. 

In  March,  1808,  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  for  Rensselaer  County,  and  retained 
that  office  until  his  death,  which  occurred  on  June  30, 
1822,  in  his  59th  year. 

Judge  Masters  was  three  times  married,  and  had  a 
family  of  four  sons  and  five  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,  Landmarks  of  Rensse-      ary  of   Congress,   1864,  246.      Pres. 
laer  County,  357.     Cothren,  Hist,  of      Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  476,  521. 
Woodbury,  iii,  56.    Lanman,  Diction- 


JONATHAN  MERRICK,  the  only  child  of  Miner  Merrick, 
of  (North)  Branford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  the 
Rev.  Jonathan  Merrick  (Yale  1725),  of  North  Branford, 
was  born  in  North  Branford  on  September  28,  1765.  His 
mother  was  Abigail  Russell,  of  Branford.  His  father 
died  in  his  infancy,  and  the  son's  residence  is  given  as 
Wallingford  (an  adjoining  town  to  Branford)  while  in 
College. 

He  afterwards  became  a  farmer  in  North  Branford, 
and  held  office  in  the  militia  as  a  Captain.  He  married  on 
August  10,  1786,  Sarah  Atwater,  of  Wallingford,  and 
had  five  daughters  and  five  sons,  all  of  whom  grew  to 
maturity. 

He  died  in  North  Branford  on  March  24,  1812,  in  his 
47th  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iv,  64.    Merrick  Genealogy,  277,  286. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  295 

JEDIDIAH  MORSE,  the  fourth  son  and  eighth  child  of 
Deacon  Jedidiah  Morse,  of  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  John  and  Sarah  (Peake)  Morse,  of  Wood- 
stock, was  born  in  that  town  on  August  23,  1761.  His 
mother  was  Sarah,  third  daughter  of  Captain  Benjamin 
and  Patience  (Thayer)  Child,  of  Woodstock.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his  faith 
in  March  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

For  two  years  after  graduation  he  remained  in  New 
Haven,  studying  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jonathan 
Edwards,  and  conducting  very  successfully  a  School  for 
Young  Ladies. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Eastern  Association 
of  New  Haven  County,  on  September  27,  1785,  and  then 
succeeded  his  classmate  Austin  in  charge  of  an  academy 
in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  where  he  also  found  employ- 
ment as  a  preacher,  until  his  election  to  a  tutorship  in  the 
College  in  May,  1786. 

He  began  his  tutorial  duties  on  June  26,  but  at  the 
opening  of  the  next  College  year  took  advantage  of  an 
opportunity  of  transferring  his  office  to  his  classmate 
Holmes,  while  he  himself  made  a  journey  to  Georgia,  in 
the  interest  of  his  proposed  work  on  geography.  To  fur- 
ther his  plans,  he  was  ordained  in  New  Haven  on  Novem- 
ber 9.  He  arrived  at  Midway,  Georgia,  in  January,  1787, 
and  for  about  six  months  preached  to  the  congregation 
of  which  Mr.  Holmes  was  pastor. 

He  then  returned  to  New  Haven,  where  he  lived  until 
March,  1788,  perfecting  a  new  edition  of  his  Geography. 
After  preaching  for  five  months  in  a  Presbyterian  Church 
in  New  York  City,  he  was  invited,  in  November,  1788,  to 
the  pastorate  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  in 
Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  with  a  salary  of  $972. 

He  accepted  the  unanimous  call  on  December  6,  and 
was  installed  on  April  30,  1789, — the  sermon  on  that 
occasion  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jeremy  Belknap  being  after- 


296  Yale  College 

wards  printed.  The  church  at  that  time  consisted  of  135 
members. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  con- 
ferred on  him  in  1794,  in  recognition  of  his  geographical 
books,  by  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 

The  early  years  of  his  ministry  were  in  the  main  happily 
spent;  but  when  a  new  Professor  of  Divinity  was  about 
to  be  chosen  in  Harvard  College,  in  1804,  Dr.  Morse 
felt  called  upon,  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Overseers, 
to  oppose  the  election  of  the  most  prominent  candidate, 
on  the  ground  that  some  of  his  doctrinal  views  were  at 
variance  with  those  which  the  founder  of  the  professor- 
ship intended  should  be  maintained. 

Shortly  after  this,  in  June,  1805,  he  originated  the 
Panoplist,  a  monthly  periodical,  designed  primarily  to 
conserve  orthodox  interests ;  and  at  a  later  period  he  put 
forth  all  his  energies  in  aid  of  the  establishment  of  a  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Andover  for  the  same  end.  The 
progress  of  the  Unitarian  controversy  led  inevitably  to  a 
division  in  Dr.  Morse's  parish,  and  the  minority  formed 
the  Second  Congregational  Society  in  1815. 

Dr.  Morse's  position  grew  still  more  uncomfortable, 
and  he  finally  resigned  his  pastorate  in  February,  1820. 

He  then  removed  his  residence  to  New  Haven,  and 
devoted  himself  to  an  object  which  had  already  deeply 
interested  him, — the  condition  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  this 
country.  In  February,  1820,  he  was  commissioned  by  the 
War  Department  as  a  Government  Agent  to  visit  the  vari- 
ous tribes  and  report  on  their  condition  and  on  plans  for 
advancing  their  civilization  and  happiness;  and  in  this 
capacity  he  made  an  extended  tour  in  the  ensuing  sum- 
mer, and  published  at  his  own  expense  the  valuable 
Report  drawn  up  after  his  return. 

His  health  had  for  many  years  been  far  from  good; 
and  after  a  few  weeks  of  serious  illness  he  died  in  New 
Haven  on  June  9,  1826,  in  his  65th  year. 

He  married,  on  May  14,  1789,  Elizabeth  Ann,  the  only 
child  of  Judge  Samuel  and  Rebecca  (Finley)  Breese,  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  297 

Shrewsbury,  New  Jersey,  who  died  in  New  Haven  on 
May  28,  1828,  in  her  62d  year. 

They  had  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom  died  in 
infancy.  The  remaining  three,  all  sons,  were  graduates 
of  Yale,  respectively,  in  1810,  1811,  and  1812;  and  the 
eldest  of  these  achieved  a  world-wide  reputation. 

A  portrait  of  Dr.  Morse,  owned  by  the  family,  has 
often  been  reproduced.  Another  portrait,  painted  by  his 
son,  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  about  1810,  is  owned  by  the 
University. 

A  Life  of  Dr.  Morse,  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  William 
B.  Sprague,  was  published  in  1874. 

Dr.  Morse's  usefulness  was  by  no  means  limited  to  his 
special  field  as  a  parish  minister.  His  faithfulness  as  a 
champion  of  orthodoxy  brought  him  into  prominence  and 
involved  him  in  heavy  editorial  labor.  In  all  the  benevo- 
lent and  missionary  enterprises  of  that  day  he  took  a  deep 
interest,  and  in  some  bore  a  leading  part.  His  personal 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Indians  began  at  an  early  date, 
and  even  earlier  he  took  an  active  stand  for  the  instruc- 
tion and  uplifting  of  the  colored  people.  He  anticipated 
by  his  example  the  work  of  the  Tract  and  Bible  Societies, 
and  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 

His  striking  characteristics  were  wide  charity,  open 
hospitality,  indomitable  energy,  and  ceaseless  industry. 

Those  who  have  described  his  personal  appearance 
emphasize  his  tall,  slender  form,  the  head  always  inclin- 
ing slightly  forwards,  his  rather  sharp  features,  his 
soft  musical  voice,  his  extremely  neat  dress,  and  polished, 
old-school  manners. 

He  published: 

i.  Geography  made  easy  .  .  New-Haven.  [1784.]  12°,  pp.  215 
+  2  pi.  [Harv.  M.  H.  S.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

The  same.  2d  edition.  Being  an  Abridgement  of  the  Amer- 
ican Geography  .  . .  Boston,  1790.  12°,  pp.  322  -|-  8  pi. 

[Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 


298  Yale  College 

Also,  many  later  editions.  This  is  reckoned  as  the  first  Geogra- 
phy printed  in  America,  and  so  entitled  the  author  to  be  called  "the 
Father  of  American  Geography." 

2.  The  American  Universal  Geography,  or,  a  View  of  the  present 
Situation  of  the  United  States  of  America  . .  Elizabeth  Town,  1789. 
8°,  pp.  xii,  537  +  2  maps. 

[B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Bowdoin  Coll.  Brit.  Mus. 
J.  Carter  Brown  Libr.  Harv.  N.  Y.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.  U.  S.  U.  T.  S.  Y.  C. 

This  work  was  enlarged  in  a  second  edition,  with  the  following 
title  :— 

The  American  Universal  Geography,  or,  a  View  of  the  present 
state  of  all  the  Empires,  Kingdoms,  States,  and  Republics  in  the 
known  World,  and  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  particular. 
In  Two  Parts  . .  Boston,  1/93.  2  parts.  8°. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll.     Columbia  Univ. 
Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

Of  this  issue  Part  I  is  a  new  edition  of  the  American  Geography,. 
and  Part  2  is  a  new  work,  a  Geographical  Description  of  the  Eastern 
Continent  and  Islands. 

Many  later  editions  and  abridgments  followed.  The  first  English 
edition  appeared  in  London  in  1792.  Translations  also  appeared  in 
various  European  languages. 

3.  A  Sermon   [from  Matth.  xxiv,  42-44]   Preached  Lord's-Day, 
February  28,  1790,  upon  the  Death  of  Richard  Gary,  Esq.  of  Charles- 
town  . .  Boston,  1790.    4°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 

4.  The  present  Situation  of  other  Nations  of  the  World,  con- 
trasted with  our  own. — A  Sermon  [from  Deut.  iv,  6,  8-9],  delivered 
at  Charlestown,  . .  Februany  19,  1795 ;  being  the  day  recommended 
.  .  for  Publick  Thanksgiving  and  Prayer.    Boston,  1795.    8°,  pp.  37. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S. 
Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

5.  Elements  of  Geography   .  .   Boston,   1795.     12°,  pp.   143  +  2 
maps.  [A.  A.  S.    Harv. 

The  same.  Second  Edition.  Boston,  1796.  12°,  pp.  143  -f  2 
maps.  [M.H.S.  Y.  C. 

Also,  in  many  later  editions. 

6.  The   Duty  of   Resignation   under  Afflictions,   illustrated   and 
enforced  from  the  example  of  Christ,  in  a  Sermon  [from  Matth. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  299 

xxvi,  42]  preached  at  Charlestown,  April  17,  1796.  Occasioned  by 
the  death  of  the  Plonourable  Thomas  Russell,  Esquire  . . .  Boston, 
1796.  8°,  pp.  31. 

[A.A.S.    B.Ath.    B.  Publ.  ^Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    C.H.S. 

Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

Y.  C. 

7.  The  American  Gazetteer  . . .     Boston,  1797.     8°,  pp.  627  +  7 
maps. 

[A.  .A.  S.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Bowdoin  Coll.  Brit.  Mus. 
J.  Carter  Brozvn  Libr.  Harv.  M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  U.  S.  U.  T.  S.  Y.  C. 

The  same.  2d  edition.  Charlestown,  1804.  8°,  pp.  vi,  628  -j-  6 
maps. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 
U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

There  were  also  several  later  editions,  besides  one  published  in 
London  in  1798,  and  an  Abridgment  issued  at  Boston  in  the  same 
year.  In  1802  A  New  Gazetteer  of  the  Eastern  Continent  was  issued 
by  Dr.  Morse  and  the  Rev.  Elijah  Parish  as  Volume  2  of  their  work ; 
and  in  1810  the  two  were  combined  under  the  title,  Universal 
Gazetteer  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Continents. 

8.  The  Character  and  Reward  of  a  Good  and  Faithful  Servant 
illustrated  in  a  Sermon  [from  Matth.  xxv,  21],  delivered  at  Charles- 
town,  April  29,  1798,  the  Lord's  Day  following  the  Death  and  Inter- 
ment of  the  Honorable  James  Russell,  Esq.    . . .     Boston,    1798. 
8°,  pp.  21. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S. 

9.  A  Sermon    [from  2  Kings  xix,  3-4],  delivered  at  the  New 
North  Church  in  Boston,  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  afternoon  at 
Charlestown,  May  9th,  1798,  being  the  day  recommended   .  .    for 
Solemn  Humiliation,  Fasting  and  Prayer.   .  .     Boston,   1798.     8°, 
pp.  29.  [Brown  Univ.    Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

The  same.     [Second  Edition.]     Boston,  1798.    8°,  pp.  30. 

[N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  bestows  extravagant  praise  on  Professor  Robison's 
recently  published  Proofs  of  a  Conspiracy. 

10.  A  Sermon  [from  Hebr.  xii,  16]  delivered  before  the  Grand 
Lodge    of    Free    &    Accepted    Masons    of    the    Comonwealth    of 
Massachusetts,  at  a  public  Installation  of  the  Officers  of  the  Cor- 


300 

inthian  Lodge,  at  Concord,  .  .  June  25th,  1798.    Leominster,  1798. 
8°,  pp.  24,  8. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Alh.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    U.  T.  S. 

The  Prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ezra  Ripley  on  the  same  occasion  is 
appended. 

11.  A  Sermon   [from  Ex.  xviii,  8-9],  preached  at  Charlestown, 
November  29,  1798,  on  the  Anniversary  Thanksgiving  in  Massa- 
chusetts.    With  an  Appendix,  designed  to  illustrate  some  parts  of 
the  Discourse:    exhibiting  proofs  of  the  early  existence,  progress, 
and  deleterious  effects  of  French  intrigue  and  influence  in  the  United 
States.    Boston,  1798.    8°,  pp.  74. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  same.     Second  Edition.     Boston,  1799.    8°,  pp.  79. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    Harv.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  same.    Third  Edition.    Worcester  1799.    8°,  pp.  88. 

[Brit.  Mus.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

12.  A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  xi,  3],  exhibiting  the  present  dangers, 
and  consequent  duties  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica.    Delivered  at  Charlestown,   April  25,    1799,  the  day  of  the 
National  Fast.  . .     Charlestown,  1799.    8°>  PP-  5°- 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ. 
C.  H.  S.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  same.    Hartford,  1799.    8°,  pp.  42.  [C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  same.    New  York,  1799.    8°,  pp.  36. 

[Brit.  Mus.    M.  PL  S.    U.  T.  S. 

Continuing  the  line  of  argument  in  his  Fast  Sermon  of  the  year 
before. 

13.  An  Address,  to  the  Students  at  Phillips  Academy,  in  Andover. 
Delivered  July  9.  1799.    Being  the  day  of  the  Anniversary  Exhibi- 
tion. ..     Tharlestown  [sic],  1799.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S. 
Y.  C. 

Dr.  Morse  was  a  Trustee  of  the  Academy  from  1795  until  his 
death. 

14.  A  Prayer  and  Sermon  [from  Deut.  xxxiv,  5,  7,  8],  delivered 
at  Charlestown,  December  31,  1799;  on  the  Death  of  George  Wash- 
ington .  . . — With  an  additional  Sketch  of  his  Life.  .  . .     Annexed 


Biographical  Sketches,   1783  301 

is  the  "Valedictory  [sic]  Address"  of  the  Deceased,  to  his  fellow- 
citizens.     Charlestown,  1800.     8°,  pp.  46  -f-  36  +24- 

[A.  A,  S.    B.  Ath.    J.  Carter  Brown  Libr.    Brown  Univ.    Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

Same.    London,  1800.    8°,  pp.  44,  36. 
Same.    Bristol,  1800.    8°. 

15.  A  Sermon  [from  Prov.  xi,  17]  preached  before  the  Humane 
Society  of  the   Commonwealth  of   Massachusetts,   at  their   semi- 
annual meeting,  June  9th,  1801.    Boston,  1801.    8°,  pp.  53. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Bou'doin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-29. 

16.  A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  Ixxvii,  5],  delivered  before  the  Ancient 
and  Honourable  Artillery  Company,  in  Boston,  June  6,   1803    .  . 
Charlestown,  1803.     8°,  pp.  32. 

\A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus. 
C.  H.  S.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

17.  A  Sermon  [from  Matth.  xxiv,  45-46],  preached  at  the  Ordin- 
ation of  the  Rev.  Hezekiah  May,  delivered  in  Marblehead,  June  23, 
1803.    Charlestown,  1803.    8°>  PP-  32-          [B-  Ath.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-21. 

18.  A    Compendious    History   of    New    England,    designed    for 
schools  and  private  families.     Charlestown,  1804.     12°,  pp.  388  -j- 
map. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 
Y.  C. 

The  Rev.  Elijah  Parish  was  joint  author  of  this  work. 

The  same.     Second  Edition.     Newburyport    (Amherst,   N.   H., 
printed),  1809.    12°,  pp.  ix,  336  +  map.       [A.  A.  S.    Harv.     Y.  C. 

Also,  later  editions,  besides  one  printed  at  London  in  1808. 

19.  The  True  Reasons  on  which  the  Election  of  a  Hollis  Pro- 
fessor of  Divinity  in  Harvard  College,  was  opposed  at  the  Board  of 
Overseers,  Feb.  14,  1805.    Charlestown,  1805.    8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Boivdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

Dr.  Morse's  breach  with  his  Unitarian  brethren  began  with  this 
publication. 


302  Yale  College 

20.  A  Sermon  [from  John  xi,  n],  delivered  at  Charlestown,  the 
Sabbath  after  the  interment  of  Miss  Mary  Russell,  who  died,  July 
24,  1806;  aged  53  years.     [Charlestown,]  1806.    8°,  pp.  18. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

21.  A  Sermon  [from  Ex.  ii,  9],  preached  in  Brattle- Street  Church, 
Boston,  September  25,   1807,  before  the  Managers  of  the  Boston 
Female  Asylum,  on  their  seventh  Anniversary.      [Boston,]    1807. 
8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.A.S.    B.Ath.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    C.H.S.    M.H.S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

22.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Cor.  iv  2],  delivered,  May  i8th.  1808,  at 
the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Joshua  Huntington,  colleague  pastor  .  . 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Marlborough-Street,  Boston.   .  .     Bos- 
ton, 1808.    8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-24;   it  is  a  strong  plea  for  doctrinal 
preaching,  very  positive  and  aggressive  in  its  tone. 

23.  A  Discourse   [from  John  viii,  36],  delivered  at  the  African 
Meeting-House,  in  Boston,  July  14,  1808,  in  grateful  celebration  of 
the  Abolition  of  the  African  Slave-Trade    .  .    Boston,   1808.     8°, 
pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ    Boivdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus. 
C.  H.  S.    Han'.    U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.    Second  Edition.    Boston,  1808.    8°,  pp.  28.      [Y.  C. 

24.  Signs  of  the  Times.     A   Sermon    [from  Dan.  xii,  4,   10], 
preached  before  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the 
Indians  and  others  in  North  America,  at  their  Anniversary,  Nov.  i, 
1810.    Charlestown,  1810.    8°,  pp.  72. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S. 
Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-52. 

25.  A  Sermon  [from  I  Tim.  i,  5],  delivered  before  the  Convention 
of  Congregational  Ministers  in  Boston,  at  their  Anniversary  Meet- 
ing, May  28,  1812.    Boston,  1812.    8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S. 
Harv.    M.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

26.  A  Sermon  [from  Titus  iii,  J,  and  Joel  ii,  1-2],  delivered  at 
Charlestown,  July  23,  1812,  the  day  appointed  . .,  to  be  observed  in 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  303 

Fasting  and  Prayer   .  .  ;    in  consequence  of  a  declaration  of  War 
with  Great  Britain.   . .     Charlestown,  1812.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.    Boivdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.    Harv.     U.  S. 
U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

27.  An  Appeal  to  the  Public,  on  the  controversy  respecting  the 
Revolution  in  Harvard  College,  and  the  events  which  have  followed 
it ;  occasioned  by  the  use  which  has  been  made  of  certain  complaints 
and    accusations    of    Miss    Hannah    Adams,    against    the    author. 
Charlestown,  1814.    8°,  pp.  192. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  pamphlet  is  mainly  occupied  with  an  answer  to  Miss  Adams, 
who  was  aggrieved  at  a  supposed  endeavor  of  Dr.  Morse  to  sup- 
plant a  work  of  hers  by  the  Compendious  History  of  New  England. 
The  author  is  not  altogether  satisfactory  in  his  defence.  Three 
editions  were  published,  the  last  in  1820. 

28.  The  Gospel  Harvest,  illustrated  in  a  Sermon  [from  Luke  x, 
1-2],  delivered  at  the  Old  South  Church,  in  Boston,  before  the 
Society  for  Foreign  Missions  of  Boston  and  vicinity,  at  their  Annual 
Meeting,  Jan.  2,  1815.    Boston,  1815.    8°,  pp.  28.     [U.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

29.  The  Christian  Ambassador.    A  Sermon  [from  2  Cor.  v,  20] 
delivered  at  the  Ordination  of  Rev.  Eliakim  Phelps,  .  .  in  Brookfield, 
October  23,  1816.    Brookfield,  1817.    8°,  pp.  24. 

[But.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-17. 

30.  A  Sermon  [from  Psalms  ii,  8J,  delivered  before  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners   for   Foreign   Missions,  at  their  Annual 
Meeting  in   Springfield,   Massachusetts,    September    19,    1821.    . . 
Boston,  1821.    8°,  pp.  36. 

[A.  A.  S.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  same.    Second  Edition.    Washington,  1822.    8°,  pp.  31. 

[N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

31.  A  Report  to  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the  United  States,  on 
Indian  Affairs,  comprising  a  Narrative  of  a  Tour  performed  in  the 
summer  of  1820,  under  a  commission  from  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  . .  the  actual  state  of 
the  Indian  Tribes  .  .     New-Haven,  1822.    8°,  pp.  400  -J-  2  pi. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 


304  Yale  College 

An  important  historical  record,  representing  much  labor;  it  has 
been  described  by  a  competent  authority  as  "the  most  complete  and 
exhaustive  report  of  the  condition,  numbers,  territory  and  general 
affairs  of  the  Indians  ever  made." 

32.  Annals  of  the  American  Revolution  .  . .  Hartford,  1824.  8°, 
pp.  iii,  400  +50  +  5  pi.  [B.  PubL  Brit.  Mus.  Harv.  Y.  C. 

An  unimportant  compilation. 

Many  other  publications  of  his  pen  appeared  in  the  periodicals 
which  he  edited,  or  as  parts  of  the  works  of  others.  As  examples 
may  be  mentioned  a  Review  of  Belsham's  American  Unitarianism, 
and  a  Review  of  the  Unitarian  Controversy,  extracted  from  the 
Panoplist,  1815-1816,  which  had  an  important  influence  in  their  day. 
His  name  also  appears  as  joint  author  with  others  of  various  atlases 
and  other  subsidiary  geographical  works. 

The  argument  in  favor  of  Sumptuary  Laws  which  he  delivered 
on  obtaining  his  Master's  degree  at  Yale  was  printed  in  The  New- 
Haven  Gazette  for  October  5  &  12,  1786. 

An  edition  of  Lord  Chesterfield's  Letters,  revised  by  him,  was 
published  at  Boston  in  1801. 

He  also  published  an  Adaptation  of  Winchell's  Arrangement  of 
Watts's  Psalms  and  Hymns  to  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
Worship. 

AUTHORITIES. 

A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  Memorial  Volume,  iv,  381-84,  406-08,  426-28.    Memorial 

113-15.     /.    Q.  Adams,   Memoirs,   iv,  of  Morse  Family,  128, 274-80.    Morris 

510-11.       Child     Genealogy,     259-60.  Family  Register,  25-26.      New  Eng- 

Drake,  Historic  Fields  and  Mansions  land  Magazine,  N.  S.,  xxviii,  516-24. 

of  Middlesex,   16-19.    Hill,  Hist,  of  Salisbury,  Family-Memorials,  484-96. 

the  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  ii,  245,  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit, 

326.      Hunnewell,  Century  of  Town  ii,  247-56;    Life  of  J.  Morse.      Pres. 

Life  in  Charlestown,  20-21,  26,  187-  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  518;   iii,  219, 

89,  193,  297-98.     Mass.  Hist.  Society's  229,  244,  246-48,  262,  276,  291,  311,  332. 

Collections,  5th  Series,  iii,  30-31,  73-  Wyman,     Charlestown      Genealogies 

76,  84,  98,  125,  260,  371 ;    6th  Series,  and  Estates,  ii,  686. 


AMOS  PEARCE,  the  youngest  child  of  Deacon  John  and 
Hannah  (Twichell)  Pearce,  of  Southbury,  in  Woodbury, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  John  and  Comfort  (Jen- 
ners)  Pearce,  was  born  on  August  9,  1763.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  George  E.  Pierce  (Yale  1816)  was  his  nephew. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  305 

In  March  of  his  Junior  year  he  was  expelled  from  Col- 
lege for  participation  in  some  riotous  disorders;  but  on 
public  confession  of  his  fault  he  was  restored  to  his  Class 
in  the  July  before  graduation. 

He  studied  law,  and  settled  as  a  practitioner  in  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  died,  unmarried,  probably  in  1798.  His 
name  was  first  starred  in  the  College  Triennial  Catalogue 
of  Graduates  in  1802. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  670.       Literary  Diary,  iii,  12,  77-78. 
Peirce   Genealogy,   53.     Pres.   Stiles, 


SAMUEL  PENFIELD  came  to  College  from  Fairfield, 
Connecticut,  being  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Lewis) 
Penfield,  of  that  town,  and  grandson  of  Peter  and  Mary 
(Allen)  Penfield,  also  of  Fairfield.  During  his  Sopho- 
more year  he  lived  in  President  Stiles's  family. 

He  was  engaged  in  business  in  Fairfield,  and  died  there, 
probably  early  in  November,  1791. 

His  widow  survived  him. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  542. 


NOAH  AMHERST  PHELPS,  the  eldest  child  of  General 
Noah  Phelps,  of  Simsbury,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Lieutenant  David  and  Abigail  (Pettibone)  Phelps,  of 
Simsbury,  was  born  on  May  3,  1762.  His  mother  was 
Lydia,  daughter  of  Edward  and  Abigail  (Gay lord) 
Griswold,  of  Windsor,  Connecticut.  His  middle  name 
was  probably  given  in  honor  of  General  Amherst,  then 
recently  appointed  Governor-general  of  the  British  pos- 
sessions in  America. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town,  and  after  studying  law 
practiced  it  for  many  years.  He  was  an  active  man  in 


306  Yale  College 

public  affairs,  and  represented  Simsbury  in  the  General 
Assembly  in  nine  sessions  between  1799  and  1809.  He 
was  also  Postmaster  of  the  town  for  some  five  or  six 
years  before  his  death,  and  attained  the  rank  of  Colonel 
in  the  militia. 

He  died  in  Simsbury  on  June  19,  1817,  in  his  66th 
year. 

His  miniature  is  reproduced  in  the  Phelps  Family 
Genealogy. 

He  married,  on  July  31,  1784,  Charlotte,  daughter  of 
Ezekiel  and  Rosannah  (Pettibone)  Wilcox,  of 'Norfolk, 
Connecticut,  who  died  on  December  15,  1831,  in  her  66th 
year. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  five  sons,  all 
of  whom  lived  to  maturity.  The  eldest  son  entered  Yale 
in  1805,  but  soon  withdrew.  The  fourth  son  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Yale  Medical  School  in  1825. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Phelps  Family,  i,  206,  349-50.     Stiles,  Hist,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  575,  577-78. 


THEODORE  PITKIN,  the  second  son  of  Colonel  William 
and  Abigail  Pitkin,  of  East  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Governor  William  and  Mary  (Woocfbridge) 
Pitkin,  was  born  in  East  Hartford  in  1764.  A  brother 
was  graduated  in  1787.  Their  mother  was  a  sister  of 
James  Church  (Yale  1756). 

He  made  his  home  in  East  Hartford,  but  followed  no 
profession.  He  was  commonly  known  as  Major  Pitkin, 
from  the  rank  in  the  militia  which  he  attained  in  1808. 

He  married,  on  January  29,  1789,  his  second  cousin, 
Elizabeth,  elder  daughter  of  Captain  Elisha  Pitkin  (Yale 

J753)- 

Their  children  were  two  sons,  and  the  parents  finally 

removed  to  the  residence  of  the  elder  son,  in  Rochester, 
New  York,  where  Major  Pitkin  died  on  June  3,   1829, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  307 

aged  65  years.     His  widow  died  on  October  13,  1845,  in 
her  8  ist  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  ii,  86.     Pitkin  Genealogy,  26,  30,  47. 


EDWARD  SELDEN  came  to  College  from  Haddam,  Con- 
necticut, where  he  was  born  on  July  22,  1758,  the  youngest 
of  four  children  of  Captain  Joseph  and  Silence  (Fuller) 
Selden,  and  grandson  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  Selden,  of 
Haddam. 

He  married  Sibyl,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Eleazar 
May  (Yale  1752),  of  Haddam,  in  January,  1784,  and 
early  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  life  of  his  native  town. 
He  represented  the  town  in  the  Legislature  at  fourteen 
sessions  between  1787  and  1805;  but  about  1806  he 
removed  to  Windsor,  Connecticut,  where  he  died  about 
the  ist  of  January,  1829,  aged  70  years. 

His  wife  died  in  1849,  m  ner  89th  year. 

Their  children  were  six  daughters  and  one  son  (who 
was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1811).  The  youngest  daughter 
married  the  Rev.  Sylvester  Eaton  (Williams  College 
1816). 

"Squire  Selden"  was  a  marked  man  in  many  respects; 
of  large  stature  and  well  proportioned,  he  had  gigantic 
strength  and  great  powers  of  endurance.  He  was  trial- 
justice  for  many  years,  and  his  decisions  were  universally 
respected.  

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,   Early   Conn.   Marriages,   i,       Diary,  i,  312. 
50.     May  Family,  85,  89.     T.  Robbins, 


JOHN  COTTON  SMITH,  the  younger  son  of  the  Rev. 
Cotton  Mather  Smith  (Yale  1751),  was  born  in  Sharon, 
Connecticut,  on  February  12,  1765.  His  preparation  for 
College  was  completed  under  the  Rev.  Daniel  Brinsmade 


308  Yale  College 

(Yale  1745),  of  Judea  Society,  now  Washington,  Connec- 
ticut. 

Immediately  upon  graduation  he  entered  on  the  study 
of  law  in  the  office  of  the  Honorable  John  Canfield  (Yale 
1762),  in  his  native  village;  and  the  sudden  death  of  his 
preceptor  (in  October,  1786),  about  the  time  of  his  admis- 
sion to  the  bar,  made  an  opening  for  his  settlement  in 
Sharon  from  the  outset. 

He  married,  on  October  29,  1786,  Margaret  (or 
Peggy)  Evertson,  of  Amenia,  Duchess  County,  New 
York,  a  neighboring  town  to  Sharon. 

In  May,  1793,  he  was  first  chosen  to  represent  the  town 
in  the  General  Assembly;  and  from  1796  to  1800  he  was, 
without  interruption,  a  member  of  the  Lower  House.  At 
the  fall  session  in  1799  he  was  appointed  Clerk;  and  in 
both  sessions  of  the  following  year  he  occupied  the 
Speaker's  chair. 

In  October,  1800,  at  an  election  held  to  supply  a  vacancy 
caused  by  resignation,  he  was  chosen  by  the  Federalists 
as  a  Member  of  Congress ;  and  he  served  in  that  capacity 
for  six  years,  commanding  the  respect  and  winning  the 
confidence  of  the  House  and  of  the  country  in  a  time  of 
violent  party  excitement. 

He  resigned  his  seat  in  July,  1806,  in  order  to  minister 
to  his  father's  old  age;  and  did  not  resume  practice  at 
the  bar,  but  devoted  himself  to  the  management  of  his 
farm  and  to  literary  pursuits.  But  he  was  again  sent  to 
the  General  Assembly  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  when 
he  was  chosen  Speaker;  and  he  represented  his  native 
town  without  intermission  until  1809,  when  he  was  elected 
to  the  Upper  House.  In  October,  1809,  he  was  appointed 
an  Associate  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court;  and  he  reluc- 
tantly resigned  this  position  in  May,  1811,  to  accept  the 
place  of  Lieutenant-Governor.  The  illness  of  Governor 
Roger  Griswold  (Yale  1780)  during  the  summer  of  1812 
imposed  unusual  responsibilities  on  his  subordinate;  and 
the  Governor's  death,  in  October  of  that  year,  made  him 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  309 

Acting-Governor.  For  the  four  following  years,  and 
until  the  political  revolution  of  1817  he  was  elected  to  the 
office  of  Governor,  which  he  filled  with  eminent  ability 
and  faithfulness. 

From  this  date  until  his  death,  he  lived  upon  his  estate 
in  his  native  town,  wholly  retired  from  politics.  Much  of 
his  time  was  given  to  religious  studies,  and  to  duties  con- 
nected with  various  Societies  in  which  he  was  an  officer. 
He  was  the  first  President  of  the  Connecticut  Bible 
Society;  in  1826  he  was  chosen  President  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  but 
resigned  the  office  in  1841  on  account  of  his  infirmities, 
especially  his  deafness;  the  Presidency  of  the  American 
Bible  Society  he  retained  from  1831  until  his  death. 

In  1814  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was 
conferred  on  him  by  Yale  College. 

In  1845  ne  consented  to  preside  at  the  Alumni  meeting 
in  New  Haven,  on  August  20,  the  day  before  Commence- 
ment; the  fatigue  of  the  journey  and  the  excitement  of 
the  occasion  affected  him  unfavorably,  and  after  his 
return  home  an  illness  followed,  accompanied  by  extreme 
suffering,  and  terminated  by  his  death,  on  December  7, 
1845,  m  m's  8  ist  year. 

An  Eulogy  pronounced  before  the  Connecticut  Histori- 
cal Society  in  May,  1846,  by  the  Rev.  William  W. 
Andrews  (Yale  1831),  of  Kent,  Connecticut,  was  pub- 
lished in  1847,  with  selections  from  his  correspondence 
and  Miscellanies.  His  portrait  is  preserved  in  the  Con- 
necticut Historical  Society,  and  is  engraved  in  Hollister's 
History  of  Connecticut.  A  profile  by  Saint-Memin  is 
engraved  in  Marion  Harland's  Some  Colonial  Home- 
steads. 

Mrs.  Smith  died  on  May  10,  1837,  aged  72  years. 

Their  only  child  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1805. 

Governor  Smith  was  a  man  of  spotless  purity  of  char- 
acter, who  dignified  and  adorned  every  station  to  which  he 
was  called.  His  natural  endowments  were  of  a  superior 


310  Yale  College 

order,  and  he  was  distinguished  for  the  uniform  courtesy 
of  his  deportment.     He  was  especially  happy  as  a  pre- 
siding officer  over  deliberative  bodies. 
He  published: 

An  Oration,  pronounced  at  Sharon,  on  the  Anniversary  of  Amer- 
ican Independence,  4th  of  July,  1798.  Litchfield.  8°,  pp.  23. 

[B.  Publ.    Y.  C. 

He  also  contributed  to  the  first  volume  of  Memoirs  of  the  Con- 
necticut Academy  of  Sciences,  New-Haven,  1810  (pp.  81-82),  An 
Account  of  the  Whitten  Plaster. 

His  Address  at  the  Alumni  Meeting  of  Yale  College,  1845,  was 
printed  in  the  New  Englander,  vol.  3,  pp.  624-26  (October,  1845). 

After  his  death  was  published : — 

The  Correspondence  and  Miscellanies  of  the  Hon.  John  Cotton 
Smith,  LL.D.  .  .  with  an  Eulogy  pronounced  before  the  Connecticut 
Historical  Society  at  New  Haven,  May  27th,  1846,  by  the  Rev.  Wil- 
liam W.  Andrews.  New  York,  1847.  I2°>  PP-  32^.  [Y.  C. 

Extracts  from  his  letters  to  his  classmate  Daggett  in  1800-02  were 
printed  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society, 
1887,  iv,  375-78. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bible  Society  Record,  1846,  209-12.  107-16.  Sedgwick,  Hist,  of  Sharon, 
Goodivin,  Genealogical  Notes,  196.  2d  ed.,  152-54,  184,  194.  Sharon 
Hist,  of  Litchfield  County,  1881,  20.  Births,  Marriages  and  Deaths,  116. 
Hollister,  Hist,  of  Conn.,  ii,  20,  517-  [Terhune],  Some  Colonial  Home- 
24.  Kilbourne,  Litchfield  Biography,  steads,  332-35. 


ISAAC  STILES,  the  younger  son  of  President  Ezra  Stiles 
(Yale  1746),  was  born  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  on 
August  10,  1763. 

Immediately  after  graduation  he  went  to  the  Southern 
States,  with  the  expectation  of  finding  employment  as  a 
private  tutor  and  ultimately  settling  as  a  lawyer.  Being 
disappointed  in  this  plan  he  returned  to  New  Haven,  and 
after  completing  his  studies  for  the  bar  he  was  admitted 
to  practice  here  on  April  6,  1785. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  311 

In  March,  1786,  he  settled  in  Tolland,  Connecticut,  as 
a  lawyer,  but  not  being  successful  he  returned  to  his 
father's  house  in  September,  1787. 

Finally,  in  June,  1790,  he  embarked  on  a  seafaring  life, 
and  was  thus  engaged  until  his  death.  In  April,  1795 
(three  weeks  before  his  father's  death),  he  sailed  from 
Philadelphia  in  the  Brig  Eagle,  for  Port  au  Prince,  San 
Domingo;  but  was  never  heard  from  afterwards. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  passim. 


RICHARD  SALTER  STORRS,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev. 
John  Storrs  (Yale  1756),  was  born  in  Mansfield,  Connec- 
ticut, on  August  30,  1763,  and  was  named  for  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Salter,  of  Mansfield,  whose  wife  was  an  aunt  of  his 
mother.  His  mother  died  in  his  infancy,  and  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  he  was  virtually  adopted  and  thenceforth 
educated  by  Dr.  Salter.  At  graduation  he  was  chosen 
by  the  class  to  deliver  the  Latin  salutatory  oration. 

After  graduation  he  returned  to  Mansfield  and  studied 
theology  under  Dr.  Salter's  direction,  being  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Windham  Association  of  Ministers  on 
October  12,  1784. 

The  pulpit  in  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts,  was  made 
vacant  in  1782  by  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen 
Williams  (Harvard  1713),  and  Mr.  Storrs  (who  was  the 
great-grandson  of  a  brother  of  Dr.  Williams)  was 
employed  as  a  candidate,  with  the  result  that  on  July  19, 
1785,  steps  were  taken  for  his  settlement;  and  his  ordi- 
nation and  installation  followed  on  December  7.  The 
ordaining  sermon  by  his  father  was  subsequently  pub- 
lished. 

He  continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  office  with- 
out interruption  until  the  brief  illness  which  preceded  his 


312  Yale  College 

death,  although  for  a  number  of  his  later  years  he  suffered 
from  a  complication  of  distressing  complaints. 

He  died  in  Longmeadow,  after  five  days'  illness  from 
typhus  fever,  on  October  3,  1819,  in  his  57th  year. 

He  married,  on  October  12,  1785,  Sarah  (Sally),  the 
elder  sister  of  his  classmate  Williston,  who  died  from 
consumption  on  January  27,  1798,  in  her  33d  year.  She 
was  eminent  for  her  piety  and  virtues  and  is  commemo- 
rated in  the  sermon  delivered  at  her  funeral,  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Charles  Backus  (Yale  1769),  which  was  published. 

He  next  married,  in  October,  1798,  Sarah,  third  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  and  Lucy  (Burt)  Williams,  of  Long- 
meadow,  and  granddaughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen 
Williams.  She  died  on  February  7,  1846,  in  her  8ist 
year. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  six  sons  and  one  daughter, 
and  by  his  second  marriage  one  son  and  two  daughters. 
The  eldest  son,  bearing  his  father's  name,  was  graduated 
at  Williams  College  in  1807,  and  became  a  distinguished 
clergyman,  and  the  father  of  a  third  Richard  Salter 
Storrs,  who  was  yet  more  eminent.  The  fourth  son  also 
entered  the  ministry,  and  was  cut  down  after  a  brief 
career  of  brilliant  promise. 

A  portrait  of  Mr.  Storrs  is  copied  in  the  Longmeadow 
Centennial  Volume. 

Mr.  Storrs  was  a  natural  orator,  peculiarly  gifted  in 
public  prayer,  and  a  preacher  of  rare  intellectual  gifts; 
but  throughout  his  ministry  he  was  periodically  subject 
to  severe  nervous  headaches,  which  were  followed  by 
great  depression. 

He  published : 

Ministers  of  the  Gospel  characterized,  as  Servants  of  Christ,  and 
Stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God. — In  a  Sermon  [from  i  Cor.  iv, 
i],  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  Williams,  .  .  in 
Fitz-William  (N.  H.)  5th  November,  1800.  Keene,  1801.  8°,  pp. 
32.  [A.  A.  S.  Brown  Univ.  C.  H.  S. 


Biographical  Sketches, 

Mr.  Williams  was  the  preacher's  classmate,  and  also  the  first 
cousin  of  Mrs.  Storrs.  The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-24;  and  is  a 
detailed  and  ingenious  analysis  of  the  method  and  end  of  preaching. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bridgman,  Northampton  Epitaphs,  Appendix,  94.    E.  A.  Park,  Sermon 

145.     Christian   Spectator,   ii,   54-56.  at  the  funeral  of  Rev.  R.  S.  Storrs, 

Conant  Family,  244-45.     Conn.  Evan-  D.D.,  10-18.     Sprague,  Annals  of  the 

gelical  Magazine,  i,  34-37.      Dwight,  Amer.     Pulpit,     ii,     257-60.       Storrs 

Strong    Family,    ii,    1152-53.     Long-  Family,  123-24,  126-30. 
meadow    Centennial,    47-50,    170-71 ; 


JOHN  WARNER,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  John  and 
Phebe  (Basset)  Warner,  of  New  Haven,  was  baptized  on 
November  18,  1764. 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  until  1797  or  a  little  later, 
being  chiefly  employed  as  a  schoolmaster. 

By  1 80 1  he  had  removed  to  New  York  City,  where  he 
continued  to  follow  the  business  of  teaching. 

He  fell  dead  in  the  streets  of  New  York  about  the  ist 
of  November,  1812,  at  the  age  of  48  years. 

His  wife  Nancy,  whom  he  married  before  August, 
1797,  was  still  living  in  1804. 


STEPHEN  WEED,  the  fifth  son  and  ninth  child  of  Heze- 
kiah  Weed,  of  Stamford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Daniel  and  Elizabeth  Weed,  of  that  town,  was  born  there 
on  August  13,  1758.  His  mother  was  Mercy,  daughter 
of  Obadiah  and  Susanna  Seely,  of  Stamford.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his  faith 
in  December  of  his  Sophomore  year.  While  in  College 
his  means  were  very  limited. 

He  is  believed  to  have  died  in  1785,  at  the  age  of  27. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  384,  489. 


314  Yale  College 

SAMUEL  WELLES  was  admitted  to  the  Senior  Class  in 
Yale  on  September  6,  1783,  on  letters  of  dismission  from 
the  Senior  Class  in  Dartmouth  College. 

Nothing  more  is  known  of  him. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  91. 


CHARLES  [COOMER]  WHITE,  the  son  of  Nathaniel 
White,  Junior,  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  was  born  on 
March  8,  1763.  His  mother  was  Lois  Coomer,  from 
Plympton,  Massachusetts,  probably  daughter  of  William 
and  Joanna  Coomer.  He  was  a  good  classical  scholar  in 
College,  and  a  candidate  for  the  Berkeley  Scholarship  at 
graduation. 

The  year  after  graduation  he  was  teaching  school  in 
Norwich,  Connecticut. 

Meantime  he  studied  law,  and  on  April  6,  1785,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  New  Haven. 

The  next  year  he  made  a  tour  of  the  Southern  States  in 
search  of  a  place  to  settle,  and  part  of  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  his  classmate  Daggett  in  October,  1786,  describ- 
ing his  experiences,  is  printed  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society  for  April,  1887  (pp. 
067-68). 

He  finally  settled  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  1788  was 
employed  as  assistant  teacher  in  the  Episcopal  Academy 
in  that  city. 

His  name  is  marked  as  deceased  in  the  Triennial  Cata- 
logue of  Graduates  issued  in  the  fall  of  1796. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Perkins,  Old  Houses  of  Norwich,       Diary,  iii,  71. 
377-78.      Pres.     Stiles,     Literary 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  315 

STEPHEN  WILLIAMS,  the  third  son  of  the  Rev.  Stephen 
Williams  (Yale  1741),  of  (West)  Woodstock,  Connecti- 
cut, was  born  in  Woodstock  on  August  8,  1762. 

He  studied  theology,  probably  with  his  father,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Windham  Association  of  Minis- 
ters on  May  6,  1786. 

In  1799  his  younger  brother,  Timothy  Williams  (Yale 
1785),  supplied  for  some  months  the  vacant  pulpit  in 
Fitzwilliam,  Cheshire  County,  New  Hampshire;  and 
early  in  1800  Stephen  Williams  took  his  brother's  place, 
and  on  June  25  of  that  year  he  was  called  by  the  church 
to  be  their  pastor.  The  town  voted  in  concurrence,  and 
offered  an  annual  salary  of  $400. 

The  ordination  and  installation  took  place  on  November 
4,  1800;  and  the  sermon,  by  the  pastor's  classmate  and 
kinsman,  Richard  S.  Storrs,  was  afterwards  published. 

Before  the  ordination,  reports  derogatory  to  Mr.  Wil- 
liams's  character  and  habits  had  been  in  circulation;  and 
soon  afterwards,  though  a  fluent,  pleasing  speaker,  of 
sound  doctrinal  belief,  his  fondness  for  intoxicating 
drinks  became  so  apparent  as  to  destroy  his  usefulness. 

By  mutual  consent  a  council  was  called,  which  dis- 
missed him  from  his  charge  on  November  19,  1802. 

He  returned  to  his  native  town,  where  he  lived  thence- 
forth in  retirement  and  died  on  September  16,  1822,  in 
his  6ist  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Congregational   Quarterly,   iii,   355.       Hampshire   Churches,  261.     Norton, 
Hasen,  Ministry  and  Churches  of  N.       Hist,  of  Fitzwilliam,  188-91. 
Hampshire,   13,  62.    Lawrence,  New 


PAYSON  WILLISTON,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Rev.  Noah 
Williston  (Yale  1757),  was  born  in  West  Haven,  Con- 
necticut, on  June  12,  1763.  He  saw  some  service  in  the 
army  before  entering  Yale.  He  united  with  the  College 
Church  on  profession  of  faith,  the  July  before  his  grad- 
uation. 


316  Yale  College 

He  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Trum- 
bull,  of  North  Haven,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Association  of  New  Haven  County  on  May  25,  1784. 

On  April  6,  1789,  he  received  a  call  to  settle  as  the  first 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Easthampton, 
Massachusetts,  on  a  salary  of  £70;  and  having  accepted 
the  call  he  was  ordained  there  on  August  13,  1789,  the 
sermon  being  preached  by  his  father. 

For  forty-four  years  he  faithfully  performed  his  full 
duties,  but  in  March,  1833,  m  yiew  °f  hi§  nearness  to  his 
7Oth  birthday,  he  offered  his  resignation.  In  accordance 
with  his  desire,  his  dismission  was  reluctantly  acceded  to, 
but  he  continued  to  reside  among  his  former  people  until 
his  death,  in  Easthampton,  on  January  30,  1856,  in  his  93d 
year.  He  was  the  last  survivor  of  his  class,  and  had  out- 
lived all  who  were  graduated  before  him. 

He  married,  on  September  12,  1790,  Sarah,  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Nathan  Birdseye  (Yale  1736),  of  Stratford, 
Connecticut,  who  died  in  September,  1845,  at  the  a§"e  °^ 
82.  The  sermon  preached  at  her  funeral  by  the  Rev. 
President  Humphrey,  of  Amherst  College,  was  afterwards 
published. 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
The  eldest  son  died  in  infancy,  and  the  second  was  the 
munificent  founder  of  Williston  Seminary  in  Easthamp- 
ton. The  younger  daughter  was  the  mother  of  Professor 
Josiah  Dwight  Whitney  (Yale  1839),  °f  Professor  Wil- 
liam Dwight  Whitney  (Williams  Coll.  1845),  and  of 
James  Lyman  Whitney  (Yale  1856). 

Mr.  Williston  was  a  thoroughly  modest  and  gentle  man, 
whose  earnestness  and  deep  interest  in  his  people  made  his 
long  ministry  a  success  and  a  blessing. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  v,  in  the  Revolution,  347-48.  Lyman, 
101.  5".  D.  Clark,  Memoir  of  J.  Hist,  of  East  Hampton,  26-31,  179. 
Woodbridge,  380-81.  Dwight,  Strong  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  385 ; 
Family,  ii,  1151-52.  Johnston,  Yale  iii,  78,  362. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1783  317 

THOMAS  GOODSELL  WOLCOTT,  the  only  son  of  Jeremiah 
Wolcott,  and  grandson  of  Dr.  Alexander  Wolcott  (Yale 
1731),  of  Windsor,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Branford 
on  August  1 6  (or  17),  1764,  and  was  baptized  in  New 
Haven  on  October  7.  His  mother  was  Sarah,  only  child 
of  Thomas  Goodsell  (Yale  1724),  of  East  Haven. 

In  March  of  his  Junior  year  he  was  expelled  from 
College  for  participation  in  a  serious  disorder,  and  was 
not  admitted  to  a  degree  until  a  year  after  his  Class  had 
been  graduated. 

He  married,  on  May  27,  1789,  Lucy,  daughter  of  Henry 
Hoffman,  of  Branford,  Connecticut,  and  had  by  her  five 
daughters  and  one  son;  the  latter  was  graduated  at  the 
Yale  Medical  School  in  1823,  but  died  before  his  father. 

Mr.  Wolcott  was  teaching  school  in  North  Branford  in 
1792.  In  later  years  he  lived  mainly  in  Branford  and 
North  Haven. 

He  died  in  the  alms-house  in  New  York  City,  on  Janu- 
ary 22,  1847,  m  ms  &3d  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Journal,  Apr.  25,  1792.    Pres.      2d  ed.,  ii,  811.      Wolcott  Memorial, 
Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  12,  79,       209,  393. 
136.    H.  R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of  Windsor, 


318  Yale  College 


Annals,    1783-84 


The  places  of  the  two  tutors  who  had  resigned  at  Com- 
mencement in  1783  were  filled  at  the  opening  of  the  fall 
term  by  the  accession  of  Simeon  Baldwin  and  Henry 
Channing,  of  the  Class  of  1781.  In  the  following  May 
Tutor  Meigs  resigned,  and  was  succeeded  by  Enoch  Per- 
kins, also  of  the  Class  of  1781. 

An  anonymous  pamphlet,  now  known  to  have  been 
written  by  Samuel  W.  Dana  (Yale  1775),  a  young  lawyer 
in  Middletown,  appeared  in  January,  1784,  with  the  title, 
Yale-College  subject  to  the  General  Assembly.  It  was 
largely  a  legal  argument  on  the  right  of  the  Assembly  to 
exercise  visitatorial  powers;  but  does  not  appear  to  have 
led  to  any  action.  The  pamphlet  was  written  with  the. 
concurrence  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight;  and  also 
with  the  approval  of  the  writer's  father,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
James  Dana,  of  New  Haven. 

The  critics  of  the  College  who  had  made  themselves 
heard  in  a  Hartford  newspaper  in  1783  (see  above,  p.  246), 
returned  to  the  charge  in  the  Connecticut  Journal,  pub- 
lished at  New  Haven,  in  April  to  June,  1784;  four  articles 
appeared,  with  three  in  reply.  Various  new  points  of 
attack  were  made,  such  as  objections  to  the  choice  of  none 
but  Congregational  ministers  into  the  Corporation,  and  to 
the  mode  of  Professor  Wales's  removal  from  Milford. 

The  earlier  articles  were  designed  to  pave  the  way  for 
the  presentation  of  a  Memorial  to  the  General  Assembly, 
in  May,  praying  for  an  alteration  in  the  Charter  of  the 
College  by  adding  a  number  of  laymen  to  the  clerical 
members.  The  Assembly,  however,  rejected  the  petition. 

To  the  same  source  as  these  articles  is  to  be  ascribed  a 
petition,  purporting  to  be  from  the  undergraduates,  which 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  319 

was  presented  to  the  Corporation  in  March,  1784,  praying 
for  the  publication  of  detailed  information  about  the 
expenditure  of  amounts  received  from  students. 

In  January,  1784,  New  Haven  was  advanced  by  the 
General  Assembly  to  the  rank  of  a  city. 


Sketches,   Class  of  1784 


*Joel  Augur,  A.M. 

*Stephanus  Ball,  A.M. 

* Jonathan  Barnes,  A.M.  *i829 

*Amos    Bassett,    A.M.,    S.T.D.    Guilielm.    1817, 

Tutor,  Socius  *i828 

*Georgius  Bliss,  A.M.,  LL.D.  Harv.  1823  *i8so 

*Guilielmus  Bradley,  A.M.  *i843 

*Guilielmus  Brown  *i8o3 

*Henricus  Caldwell  *i82i 

*Henricus  Caldwell,  A.M.  1790  *i8i2 

*Jahacobus  Catlin,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  1822  *i826 

*Russell  Catlin  *i84- 

*Rogerus  Cogswell  *i8i9 

*Daniel  Cone  *I786 

*Josephus  Denison,  A.M.,  Tutor  "1789 

*Henricus  Packer  Bering,  A.M.  1791  *i822 

*Henricus  Dow,  A.M.  1790  *i8i4 
*Jael  Edson 
*Josephus  Eliot 

*Saulus  Fowler  *i852 

*Elihu  Chauncaeus  Goodrich,  A.M.  *i8o2 

*Ray  Greene,  A.M.,  Rerump.  Foed.  Sen.  *i849 

*Elija  Gridley,  A.M.  1797  *:822 
*Sethus  Hart 
*Simeon  Hinman 


320  Yale  College 

*Timotheus  Hinman  *i8io 

*Uriel  Holmes,  e  Congr.  "1827 

*Thomas  Holt,  AM.  et  Harv.  1793  "1836 

*Heaton  Huggins,  A.M.  *i?94 

*Jabez  Huntington,  A.M.  1790  "1848 

*Radulphus  Isaacs  *i8i5 

*Melinus  Conklin  Leaven  worth  *i822 
*Chauncaeus  Lee,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  Columb.  1823          "1842 

*Guilielmus  Lord  *i852 
*Guilielmus  Lyman,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  Neo-Caes.  1808    *i833 

*Guilielmus  Mansfield  *i8i6 
*Silas  Marsh,  A.M. 

*Samuel  Mather,  A.M.  "1789 

*Lemuel  Mead  *i826 

*Elisaeus  Munson,  A.M.  "1841 

*Jabez  Peck  *i?9i 

*  Jonas  Prentice,  A.M.  *i8c>4 
^Benjamin  Strong  Roe  *:795 

*  Johannes  Punderson  Seward  (post  obit.)  *i?84 
*Jared  Spencer  *i82O 
*Josephus  Strong,  A.M.  *i823 
* Johannes  Taylor,  A.M.  *i84O 
*Andreas  Tuttle,  A.M.  "1807 
*Jacobus  Wakelee 

*Roswell  Welles,  A.M.  "1830 

*Deodatus  Wildman  *  1 787 

*Hezekias  North  Woodruff,  A.M.  1790  *i833 
^ Aaron  Woolworth,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  Neo-Caes.  1809    *i82i 


JOEL  AUGUR  was  baptized  in  New  Haven  on  April  6, 
1766.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Deacon  Abraham  Augur, 
of  Woodbridge,  then  part  of  New  Haven,  by  his  second 
wife  (Sarah,  widow  of  Thomas  Allcock,  of  East  Haven), 
and  grandson  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Bradley)  Augur,  of 
East  Haven.  A  younger  brother  was  for  a  time  a  mem- 
ber of  the  same  class. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  321 

Nothing  is  known  of  his  history,  beyond  his  receiving 
his  Master's  degree  in  1787.  His  name  was  first  starred 
in  the  Triennial  Catalogue,  of  1826;  but  this  may  have 
been  through  confusion  with  another  of  the  name  who  died 
in  New  Haven  in  April  of  that  year,  in  his  47th  year. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 
Augur  Family,  46. 


STEPHEN  BALL,  the  third  child  and  only  surviving  son 
of  Deacon  Stephen  Ball,  of  New  Haven,  and  nephew  of 
the  Rev.  Eliphalet  Ball  (Yale  1748),  was  born  in  New 
Haven  on  February  17,  1762.  His  mother  was  Abigail, 
youngest  child  of  Jonathan  and  Abigail  (Bradley) 
Atwater,  of  New  Haven.  A  sister  married  Captain 
Henry  Daggett,  Junior  (Yale  1775). 

He  spent  his  life  in  New  Haven,  and  was  latterly  known 
as  Colonel  Ball,  from  the  rank  which  he  held  in  the  militia. 

He  died  here  on  June  29,  1842,  in  his  8ist  year. 

His  wife,  Nabby,  died  on  December  i,  1841,  aged  65 
years.  One  daughter  and  two  sons  survived  their  parents. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Atwater  History,  136.    Tuttle  Family,  146. 


JONATHAN  BARNES,  the  eldest  child  of  Jonathan  Barnes, 
of  Southington,  then  a  parish  in  Farmington,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Stephen  and  Martha  (Whedon)  Barnes, 
of  Branford  and  Southington,  was  born  on  March  13, 
1763.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of 
Hezekiah  and  Sarah  (Mason)  Woodruff,  of  Southington. 
He  was  admitted  to  College  in  August,  1780 — his  exami- 
nation having  been  asked  for  at  that  early  date  in  order 
to  secure  him  exemption  from  military  draft. 

21 


3 22  Yale  College 

He  studied  law  and  settled  in  Tolland,  Connecticut, 
where  he  was  highly  esteemed,  not  only  in  his  profession 
but  also  in  social  life.  Besides  uncommon  intellectual 
ability  and  legal  attainments,  he  was  remarkable  for 
promptness  and  scrupulous  exactness  in  all  his  dealings. 
In  religious  matters  he  would  not  commit  himself  to  any 
creed,  but  did  with  earnestness  the  duty  that  lay  next  him. 

He  was  State's  Attorney  for  Tolland  County  from  1808 
until  his  death. 

He  died  in  Tolland  on  September  24,  1829,  in  his  67th 
year. 

He  married,  on  February  19,  1789,  Rachel,  third  daugh- 
ter of  Josiah  and  Elizabeth  (Colton)  Steele,  of  Hinesburg, 
Vermont,  and  sister  of  the  Rev.  Marshfield  Steele  (Yale 
1790).  She  had  been  adopted  and  brought  up  by  her 
uncle,  the  Rev.  George  Colton  (Yale  1756),  of  Bolton, 
Connecticut. 

She  died  in  Tolland  on  July  24,  1847,  aged  83  years. 

Their  children  were  six  sons  and  a  daughter  (who 
married  Alanson  Abbe,  M.D.  Yale  1821).  The  first, 
second,  and  fifth  sons  were  graduates  of  Yale  College,  in 
the  years  1809,  1815,  and  1825,  respectively. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Durrie,    Steele    Family,   24.    Pres.       low,  Hist,  of  Southington,  516,  xviii- 
Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  458.     Tim-       xix. 


AMOS  BASSETT,  the  second  son  of  Deacon  Amos  Bassett, 
of  Seymour,  then  part  of  Derby,  Connecticut,  and  grand- 
son of  Captain  Samuel  and  Deborah  (Bennett)  Bassett, 
of  Derby,  was  born  on  June  17,  1764.  His  mother  was 
Olive  Glover,  of  Newtown,  Connecticut. 

After  graduation  he  taught,  in  Schenectady,  New  York, 
and  elsewhere;  and  in  June,  1789,  entered  on  a  tutorship 
in  College  which  he  filled  with  universal  esteem  until  Sep- 
tember, 1793.  He  was  admitted  to  the  College  Church  on 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  323 

profession  of  faith  in  December,  1790,  and  having  studied 
theology  under  the  direction  of  President  Stiles  he  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  Western  Association 
on  October  30,  1792. 

After  preaching  in  other  places  he  was  called  to  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Hebron,  Connecticut,  where  he 
was  ordained  and  installed  on  November  5,  1794. 

During  his  ministry  he  gave  instruction  to  many  private 
pupils.  He  was  elected  to  membership  in  the  Corporation 
of  Yale  College  in  September,  1810.  The  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  given  him  by  Williams 
College  in  1817. 

He  had  nearly  completed  thirty  years  of  faithful  ser- 
vice, and  was  still  strong  in  the  affections  of  a  united 
people,  when  he  was  called  to  another  sphere  of  duty. 

The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions  had  established  at  Cornwall,  Connecticut,  in 
1816,  a  Foreign  Mission  School,  for  the  education  of 
heathen  youth;  and  after  the  failure  of  the  health  of  the 
first  principal,  Dr.  Bassett  was  invited  to  succeed  to  his 
place. 

He  accepted  the  call,  and  was  dismissed  from  his  pastor- 
ate on  September  28,  1824.  He  gave  satisfaction  in  his 
new  duties,  but  shortly  before  his  arrival  a  Cherokee 
Indian  who  was  a  pupil  in  the  School  had  married  a  white 
woman  whom  he  met  there;  and  when  in  March,  1826, 
another  similar  marriage  took  place,  so  much  feeling  was 
aroused,  among  the  villagers  that  it  was  thought  best  to 
discontinue  the  School. 

Dr.  Bassett  then  removed  to  Monroe,  in  Fairfield 
County,  Connecticut,  where  he  supplied  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  until  his  death. 

He  had  just  been  invited  to  take  charge  of  a  literary 
institution  in  New  Jersey,  and  was  making  arrangements 
to  enter  on  his  duties,  when  he  was  seized  with  illness 
while  conducting  service  in  Monroe,  on  Sunday,  March  30, 
1828;  he  died  on  the  following  Thursday,  April  3,  in  his 


324  Yale  College 

64th  year.  He  had  resigned  his  position  as  Fellow  of  the 
College  in  the  preceding  September. 

Dr.  Bassett  was  distinguished  for  sound  judgment, 
universal  benevolence,  and  faithful  service;  but  his  most 
marked  characteristic  was  his  humility  and  diffidence 
which  led  him  to  shrink  from  public  observation. 

He  married,  on  March  30,  1796,  Sarah  (or  Sally), 
daughter  of  Captain  Sylvanus  Tinker,  of  East  Haddam, 
Connecticut,  who  died  in  Hebron  on  February  26,  1798, 
aged  25  years. 

He  next  married,  on  May  17,  1801,  Sophia,  elder  daugh- 
ter of  Deacon  Martin  and  Elizabeth  (Strong)  Bull,  of 
Farmington,  Connecticut,  who  died  in  Hebron  on  Febru- 
ary 7,  1805,  in  her  36th  year.  She  was  a  niece  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Cyprian  Strong  (Yale  1763),  who  preached  her 
funeral  sermon. 

He  was  married  thirdly,  on  January  19,  1807,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Abel  Flint,  to  Eunice,  daughter  of  Ralph  Pom- 
eroy  (Princeton  College  1758),  of  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
and  granddaughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Pomeroy 
(Yale  1733),  of  Hebron. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  one  daughter;  by  his  second 
wife  one  son  (Yale  1823)  ;  and  one  son  by  his  third  wife. 

He  published :  • 

1.  Advantages    and    Means   of   Union    in    Society. — A    Sermon 
[from  Ps.  cxxxiii,  i],  preached  at  the  Anniversary  Election,  in  Hart- 
ford, May  I4th,  1807.    Hartford,  1807.    8°,  pp.  34. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Aih.    Brit.  Mus.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

Perhaps  the  most  noticeable  passage  in  the  Sermon  is  a  strong 
plea  for  temperance. 

2.  He  was  also  the  anonymous  author  of  the  following : — 

Reply  to  Mr.  Abbot's  Statement  of  Proceedings  in  the  First  Soci- 
ety in  Coventry,  Connecticut. — By  the  Association  in  Tolland 
County.  Hartford,  1812.  8°,  pp.  48.  [A.  A.  S.  B.  Ath.  Y.  C. 

The  Rev.  Abiel  Abbot  (Harvard  1787,)  of  Coventry,  had  been 
disciplined  by  his  ministerial  brethren  for  Unitarian  sentiments,  and 
Mr.  Bassett  was  a  prominent  actor  in  the  matter. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  325 

He  also  printed,  in  The  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine  for 
July,  1804  (vol.  5,  pp.  5-8,  41-45)  :— 

A  Missionary  Sermon   [from 'John  viii,  56],  delivered  at  Hart- 
ford on  the  Evening  of  the  Election  Day,  May  10,  1804. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,  697,  803.    Religious  Intelligencer,  xii, 

129.    Campbell,    Seymour,    past    and  735.    Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer. 

present,  388.    Dwight,  Strong  Fam-  Pulpit,  ii,  294.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 

ily,  ij  307.     Gold,  Hist,  of  Cornwall,  Diary,  iii,  251-52,  357,  406,  478,  504, 

29,  84-85.     Missionary  Herald,  xxiv^  544. 
165.     Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Derby,  676-77, 


GEORGE  BLISS,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Hon.  Moses  Bliss 
(Yale  1755),  was  born  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  on 
December  13,  1764.  He  was  admitted  to  the  College 
Church  on  profession  of  faith  in  July  of  his  Junior  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  his  father,  and 
in  the  last  year  of  his  tutelage  he  enlisted  in  a  company  of 
volunteers  and  was  active  in  the  suppression  of  the  Shays 
Rebellion. 

He  was  admitted  to  practice  as  an  attorney  in  1787, 
and  became  an  eminent  lawyer.  He  also  trained  many 
students  of  the  law,  and  is  reported  to  have  been  more  than 
usually  attentive  to  their  instruction. 

In  1800  he  was  elected  to  the  Massachusetts  House  of 
Representatives,  and  in  1805  to  the  State  Senate.  He 
was  a  strong  Federalist,  and  in  1814  a  member  of  the 
Hartford  Convention.  In  recognition  of  his  ability  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  on  him 
by  Harvard  College  in  1823.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Wil- 
liams College  from  1820  to  1825.  He  was  sincerely 
religious,  and  for  years  a  Deacon  in  the  First  Church  of 
Springfield,  and  an  adherent  to  that  church  when  the 
Unitarians  seceded.  From  1808  to  1826  he  was  one  of 
the  Board  of  Visitors  of  the  Andover  Theological  Semi- 
nary. 


326  Yale  College 

He  died  in  Springfield  on  March  8,  1830,  in  his  66th 
year. 

On  May  22,  1789,  he  married  Hannah,  third  daughter 
of  Dr.  John  Clark  (Yale  1749),  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut; 
one  of  her  elder  brothers  had  already  married  his  eldest 
sister. 

Mrs.  Bliss  died  on  September  19,  1795,  in  her  32d  year; 
and  he  next  married,  on  May  29,  1799,  Mary,  second 
daughter  of  John  Lothrop  (Yale  1762),  of  New  Haven. 

She  died  on  May  I,  1803,  in  her  37th  year;  and  he 
next  married,  on  November  15,  1804,  Abigail  (or  Nabby), 
youngest  child  of  the  late  Rev.  David  Sherman  Rowland 
(Yale  1743),  of  Windsor,  Connecticut,  who  survived  him, 
dying  on  January  21,  1832,  in  her  58th  year. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  three  daughters,  one  of 
whom  died  in  childhood,  and  a  son.  His  third  wife  also 
bore  him  three  daughters,  one  of  whom  died  in  infancy, 
and  one  son.  The  elder  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1812,  and  the  younger  at  Amherst  in  1831.  The  third 
daughter  married  the  Rev.  Joseph  Brackett  (Williams 
Coll.  1815). 

On  the  death  of  Mr.  Bliss  the  following  tribute  appeared 
in  the  American  Jurist  in  1830: — 

In  his  whole  bearing  as  a  jurist,  and  in  all  his  various  relations  at 
the  bar,  he  was  eminently  distinguished  by  fidelity,  integrity,  honesty 
of  purpose,  and  high  moral  purity.  His  manners  wore  the  sem- 
blance of  austerity,  yet  such  was  not  his  temperament.  The  appear- 
ance arose  entirely  from  his  being  habitually  a  man  of  thoughtful- 
ness.  His  conversation  was  full  of  instruction,  enlivened  with 
interesting  anecdotes  and  occasional  sallies  of  wit. 

The  historian  of  the  Hartford  Convention  describes 
him  as 

an  eminent  lawyer,  distinguished  in  the  profession  for  extensive 
learning,  unwearied  industry,  uncommon  intelligence,  the  strictest 
integrity,  and  the  most  unshaken  independence  both  of  principle 
and  of  conduct. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  327 

AUTHORITIES. 

W.  G.  Bates,  Address  at  the  Dedi-  the      Hartford      Convention,      427. 

cation  of  the  New  Court  House,  46-  Goodwin,     Genealogical     Notes,     27, 

48.     Bliss  Genealogy,  87,  157-58.    A\-  29-30.     Huntington,  Lathrop   Family 

Bradford,   Biographical   Notices,   68.  Memoir,    124.     Morris,   Hist,   of   the 

Chapin,  Old  Springfield,  57-59.    Dur-  First  Church  in   Springfield,  42,  47. 

fee,  Biogr.  Annals  of  Williams  Col-  Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii, 

lege,    64.     B.     W.    Dwight,    Dwight  476;    iii,  78.     H.  R.   Stiles,  Hist,  of 

Family,  ii,  883.     T.  Dwight,  Hist,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  664. 


WILLIAM  BRADLEY,  the  second  child  and  elder  son  of 
Joseph  and  Sarah  (Hill)  Bradley,  of  Guilford  and  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Joseph  and  Priscilla 
(Redfield)  Bradley,  of  Guilford,  was  born  in  New  Haven 
on  October  27,  1766. 

He  settled  as  a  merchant  in  Lansingburg,  New  York, 
thence  removing  about  1800  to  Troy,  where  he  had  a 
prominent  and  successful  career.  He  was  one  of  the 
early  vestrymen  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church  in  Troy. 

He  died  in  Troy,  in  January,  1843,  m  n^s  67th  year. 

He  married  Sarah  French.     They  had  no  children. 


AUTHORITIES. 

N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,       dred  Years,  52,  56,  90,  94,  114,  323. 
Ivii,    140.     Weise,   Troy's   One   Hun- 


WILLIAM  BROWN  was  born  in  East  Guilford,  or  Madi- 
son, then  part  of  Guilford,  Connecticut,  on  November  30, 
1764,  the  son  of  Samuel  Brown,  of  East  Guilford,  and 
grandson  of  James  and  Esther  (Broughton)  Brown,  of 
Middletown,  Connecticut.  His  mother  was  Hannah  Lan- 
don,  of  Southold,  Long  Island,  a  daughter  of  Judge 
Samuel  and  Bethia  (Tuthill)  Landon. 

In  1785  he  went  to  Middletown,  Connecticut,  where 
he  lived  for  about  seven  years  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Fred- 
erick Redfield,  whose  wife  was  his  sister.  There  he 
studied  law  with  Samuel  W.  Dana  and  was  admitted  to 
practice.  He  was  City  Clerk  from  1789  to  1792. 


328  Yale  College 

Becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  prospects  for  advance- 
ment in  Middletown,  he  returned  to  his  father's  house  in 
1793,  and  mainly  devoted  himself  to  the  care  of  his  aged 
parents.  He  married,  on  January  22,  1795,  in  East 
Guilford,  Rachel,  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Anne  (Cramp- 
ton)  Bishop.  He  represented  the  town  in  four  sessions 
of  the  General  Court  in  1794-96. 

In  1797  he  established  himself  in  his  profession  in  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  and  removed  his  family  thither  in  1798. 

He  soon  became  distinguished  at  the  bar,  and  prominent 
among  the  Federalists  of  the  State ;  but  he  died,  in  Hart- 
ford, from  scarlet  fever,  after  a  short  illness,  on  Novem- 
ber 8,  1803,  aged  nearly  thirty-nine  years. 

His  wife  survived  him,  with  four  daughters  and  one 
son.  She  returned  to  East  Guilford,  but  on  January  3, 
1813,  married  Major  John  Caldwell,  of  Hartford,  and 
died  in  Hartford  on  July  22,  1850,  at  the  age  of  79. 

The  eldest  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Horace  Hooker 
(Yale  1815)  ;  the  second  daughter  married  the  Hon.  Fran- 
cis Parsons  (Yale  1816)  ;  and  the  third  daughter  married 
the  Rev.  Henry  Robinson  (Yale  1811).  The  son  was 
graduated  from  the  Yale  Medical  School  in  1826. 

He  published : 

i.  An  Oration,  spoken  at  Hartford,  in  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
on  the  Anniversary  of  American  Independence,  July  4th,  A.D.  1799. 
Hartford,  1799.  8°,  pp.  23.  [Ham  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Y.  C. 

The  author  speaks  as  an  ardent  Federalist,  and  in  particular  warns 
his  hearers  against  the  danger  of  foreign  alliances,  especially  with 
France. 

"An  Elegy  in  memory  of  the  late  William  Brown,  Esq.",  consist- 
ing of  twenty  four- line  stanzas,  was  published  as  a  broadside  at 
Hartford  soon  after  his  death. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.     Courant,     Nov.     16,     1803.       Francis  Parsons,   MS.   Letter,   Aug. 
Field,  Centennial  Address  at  Middle-      8,  1905. 
town,  206.     Humphreys  Family,  464. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  329 

HARRY  CALDWELL,  the  only  child  of  Nathaniel  Caldwell 
(Yale  1757),  of  Guilford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Guil- 
ford  on  December  n,  1762.  While  in  College  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Soon  after  graduation  he  removed  to  Petersburg,  in 
what  is  now  Elbert  County,  Georgia,  where  he  remained 
as  a  planter  for  some  years.  In  his  later  years  he  was  a 
merchant  in  Jersey  City,  New  Jersey,  where  he  died  in 
1821. 

He  married  Catharine,  daughter  of  Joseph  Pynchon, 
of  Guilford,  a  classmate  of  his  father.  She  was  born  on 
August  22,  1768.  They  had  seven  daughters  and  one  son. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,       ii,  521 ;    iii,  370. 
Iviii,  37.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 


HENRY  CALDWELL,  son  of  Charles  Caldwell,  of  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  was  baptized  in  the  First  Church  in  that 
town  on  April  21,  1765. 

He  became  a  Captain  in  the  United  States  Marine 
Corps,  and  died  at  the  Navy  Yard  in  Charlestown,  Massa- 
chusetts, on  March  12,  1812,  aged  47  years. 

His  portrait  is  preserved  in  the  rooms  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Historical  Society  at  Hartford. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 
Historical  Catalogue  of  ist  Church,  Hartford,  227. 


JACOB  CATLIN,  son  of  Jacob  Catlin^  a  farmer  of  Har- 
winton,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Harwinton  in  March, 
1758.  His  mother  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  Deacon 
Daniel  and  Sarah  Phelps,  of  Windsor  and  Harwinton. 
He  was  early  trained  to  the  work  of  the  farm,  but  event- 


33°  Yale  College 

ually  becoming  religious  he  was  prepared  for  College  by 
his  pastor,  the  Rev.  David  Perry  (Yale  1772).  He  joined 
the  College  Church  by  profession  of  faith  in  July,  1783. 

For  about  a  year  after  graduation  he  was  engaged  in 
teaching;  and  he  then  prosecuted  his  theological  studies 
in  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  West  (Yale  1755),  whose  funeral  ser- 
mon he  preached  many  years  later.  .  ' 

On  July  4,  1787,  he  was  ordained  as  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  New  Marlborough,  in  the  southern 
part  of  Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts. 

Later  in  the  same  year  he  married  Mrs.  Xenia  Strong, 
a  daughter  of  John  and  Beulah  (Stearns)  Jackson,  of 
Tyringham,  Massachusetts  (born  February  n,  1760), 
and  the  widow  of  Joseph  Strong,  a  farmer  of  New  Marl- 
borough,  whom  she  married  in  June,  1779,  and  who  died 
in  December,  1786.  She  had  by  her  first  husband  one  son 
(Yale  1797)  and  two  daughters. 

By  his  marriage  Mr.  Catlin  became  possessed  of  a  farm, 
which  he  managed  with  great  skill,  while  at  the  same  time 
-diligent  in  his  parochial  work.  He  also  fitted  a  consider- 
able number  of  young  men  for  College,  and  several  others 
pursued  theological  studies  with  him.  He  was  a  Trustee 
of  Williams  College  from  1807  to  1822. 

In  1822  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  conferred 
on  him  by  Yale  College.  Not  far  from  two  hundred  and 
fifty  persons  were  added  to  the  church  during  his  ministry. 

As  early  as  1822  his  mind  began  to  decay,  and  gradually 
his  bodily  and  mental  powers  failed.  A  colleague  pastor 
was  settled  in  January,  1826,  and  Dr.  Catlin  died  on  April 
12,  1826,  in  his  69th  year. 

His  wife  survived  him.  Their  children  were  four  sons 
and  three  daughters.  One  son  became  a  physician,  and 
another  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1821  and 
studied  for  the  ministry. 

Dr.  Catlin  was  earnest,  serious-minded,  and  thorough  in 
his  professional  work,  and  had  the  esteem  of  all  his  par- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  331 

ishioners.  Without  any  brilliant  gifts  he  was  always 
faithful  and  consistent,  remarkably  patient  and  indus- 
trious, and  strictly  Calvinistic  in  doctrine. 

He  published : 

i 

1.  The  moral  character  of  Christ  the  standard  of  social  virtue. — 
A  Sermon  [from  Eph.  ii,  20]  delivered  in  New-Marlborough ;  on 
the  first  day  of  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1796;   before  the  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons  of  the  Cincinnatus  Lodge:    it  being  the  day  of 
their  instalment   .  . .     Stockbridge,  1797.     16°,  pp.  22. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Publ. 

2.  The  Gentiles  inheritance  of  the  blessing  of  Abraham,  through 
Jesus    Christ; — illustrated    in    a    Sermon    [from   Gal.    iii,    13-14]* 
delivered  at  New-Marlborough,  in  the  Year  of  Our  Lord   1798. 
Hartford,  1799.    12°,  pp.  36.  [B.  Ath.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  which  gives  the  title  occupies  pp.  1-26;  and  the 
remaining  pages  are  given  to  the  following,  by  the  same  author : — 

A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  xcvii,  7],  delivered  at  the  Funeral  of  the 
Reverend  John  Stevens,  Pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  New- 
Marlborough,  who  departed  this  life,  January  6th,  1799. 

Another  edition  is  as  follows : — 

The  Gentiles  inheritance  of  the  blessing  of  Abraham,  through 
Jesus  Christ: — A  Sermon,  respecting  Infant  Baptism.  With  an 
Appendix,  confuting  the  mode  of  Baptism  by  Immersion  .  .  Can- 
andaigua,  1799.  12°,  pp.  44.  [U.  T.  S. 

In  this  edition  pages  35  to  44  are  occupied  with  Extracts  from  the 
Manuscripts  of  an  anonymous  writer  on  the  Institution  and  mode 
of  Christian  Baptism. 

3.  Alarm  to  the  Churches. — A   Sermon    [from  Hosea  xiii,  9], 
preached  at  New-Marlborough,  South  Parish,  July  23,  1812 ;  Being 
a  Day  of  Fasting  and  Prayer,  occasioned  by  the  Declaration  of  War 
against  Great-Britain.     Stockbridge,  1812.    8°.  pp.  16. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.    C.  H.  S. 

4.  The  Horrors  of  War. — A  Sermon  [from  Jer.  iv,  19],  delivered 
at  New-Marlborough,    (Mass.)   July  5,   1813    . .    — Preached  and 
published  at  the  request  of  a  branch  o£  the  Washington  Benevolent 
Society.    Stockbridge,  1813.    8°,  pp.  n. 

[Bozvdoin  Coll.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 


33 2  Yale  College 

5.  A  Compendium  of  the  System  of  Divine  Truth :  contained  in 
a  Series  of  Essays  .  . .  Hartford,  1818.  12°,  viii,  316. 

[Andover  TheoL  Sem.    B.  Ath.    Y.  C. 

The  same.     Second  edition.     Middletown.  1824.     12°,  pp.  304. 
[Boivdoin  Coll.    Harv.     U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  same.    Third  edition.    Boston,  1851.    12°,  pp.  viii,  302. 

[Bowdoin  Coll    Harv,      U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

He  was  also  concerned  in  the  publication  of  two  volumes  of  col- 
lected Sermons,  to  which  he  contributed  as  follows : — 

to  Sermons  on  important  subjects,  Hartford,  1797: — 

The  Doctrine  of  Divine  Sovereignity,  a  Motive  to  Morality; — 
illustrated  in  a  Sermon  from  Ps.  xxxiii,  8-n,  pp.  183-210; 

The  Character  and  Claims  of  Christ  vindicated. — A  Sermon  from 
John  vii,  18,  pp.  473-94  = 

The  wicked,  on  account  of  worldly  prosperity,  and  unbelief  of  a 
future  state,  openly  reject  and  despise  the  Almighty. — A  Sermon 
from  Job  xxi,  13-15; 

and  to  Sermons  on  some  of  the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  Divine 
Revelation,  Stockbridge,  1812: — 

Salvation  in  none  but  Jesus  Christ. — A  Sermon  from  Acts  iv,  12, 
pp.  63-78. 

He  published  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine  for  Decem- 
ber, 1801,  pp.  224-26: 

An  account  of  a  work  of  divine  grace,  in  a  revival  of  religion  in 
the  town  of  New-Marlborough  (Mass.)  in  the  year  1799. 


.  AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight,    Strong    Family,    ii,    1254.       the     American     Pulpit,     ii,     260-65. 
Field,    Hist,    of    Berkshire    County,       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  78. 
293-94.    Hinman,  Conn.  Puritan  Set-       Tyringham  Vital  Records,  40,  78. 
tiers,    504-05.    Sprague,    Annals    of 


RUSSELL  CATLIN  was  a  native  of  Harwinton,  Connecti- 
cut, where  he  was  born  on  November  29,  1761.  He  was 
probably  the  son  of  George  and  grandson  of  Benjamin 
Catlin;  in  which  case  his  mother  was  Mindwell,  second 
daughter  of  Captain  Edward  and  Deborah  (Griswold, 
Bissell)  Phelps,  of  Windsor  and  Harwinton. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  333 

After  leaving  College  he  conformed  to  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  on  June  10,  1792,  he  was  ordained  deacon 
by  Bishop  Seabury  in  New  Haven.  On  June  9,  1793,  he 
was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  the  same  prelate  at 
Middletown. 

Immediately  after  his  ordination  he  took  charge  of  St. 
James's  Church  in  Arlington,  Bennington  County,  Ver- 
mont, which  was  mainly  settled  from  his  native  county; 
but  he  was  obliged  to  leave  that  place  in  1796  in  disgrace 
on  account  of  bad  habits.  He  is  said  to  have  officiated 
after  this  in  Hinesburgh  and  Charlotte,  Chittenden 
County,  for  about  seven  years,  and  then  for  six  or  seven 
years  in  Hartland,  on  the  Connecticut  River;  but  there 
was  no  improvement  in  his  habits,  and  he  gave  up  the 
ministry,  though  he  does  not  appear  to  have  been  formally 
deposed. 

After  leaving  Vermont  he  returned  to  Connecticut,  and 
found  some  employment  in  teaching. 

He  is  said  to  have  died  in  1843,  or  by  another  account 
in  1849. 

His  widow  was  living  in  1890. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Centennial     Convention     of     Ver-  Records  of  Convocation  of  Diocese 

mont  Diocese,  1890, 356.    Hemenway,  of    Conn.,    42,    44,    168.     Thompson, 

Vt.  Hist.  Magazine,  i,  131.    Hinman,  Hist,  of  Vermont,  ii,  196;    iii,  4. 
Conn.  Puritan  Settlers,  505.    Hooper, 


ROGER  COGSWELL,  the  eldest  child  of  Major  William 
Cogswell,  of  New  Milford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Edward  and  Hannah  (Brown)  Cogswell,  of  Ipswich, 
Massachusetts,  Preston,  and  New  Milford,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  New  Preston  Society,  in  the  present  township 
of  Washington,  Connecticut,  on  July  24,  1763.  His 
mother  was  Anna,  sister  of  Elisha  Whittlesey  (Yale 
1779)- 


334  Yale  College 

He  married,  on  March  12,  1786,  in  Southbury,  a  part 
of  Woodbury,  Connecticut,  Sarah  Johnson,  a  native  of 
that  parish. 

He  was  a  man  of  talents,  and  became  a  merchant  and 
inn-keeper,  first  in  Sheffield,  Massachusetts,  and  later 
(about  1795)  in  Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  was  for  a 
time  prosperous,  but  subsequently  failed  in  business. 

He  died  on  August  i,  1819,  aged  56  years. 

He  had  no  children,  and  his  widow  next  married  Philo 
Swift,  of  Cornwall,  Connecticut. 


.  AUTHORITIES. 

Cothren,   Hist,    of   Woodbury,   iii,       America,  65,  131.     Whittlesey  Gene- 
473.    Jameson,    The     Cogswells    of       alogy,  74,  127. 


DANIEL  CONE,  a  son  of  Captain  Jonah  and  Elizabeth 
Cone,  and  grandson  of  Deacon  Daniel  and  Mary  (Barnes) 
Cone,  of  Millington  Parish,  in  East  Haddam,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  Millington,  on  August  28,  1763.  His  mother 
was  the  second  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Hannah  (Brain- 
€rd)  Gates. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  was  probably 
admitted  to  practice;  but  he  died  of  consumption,  at  his 
father's  house  in  East  Haddam,  on  September  27,  1786,  in 
his  24th  year.  His  gravestone  describes  him  as  "Daniel 
Cone,  4th." 

He  married,  on  September  15,  1784,  a  week  after  his 
graduation,  Mercy  Otis,  of  Colchester,  Connecticut,  by 
whom  he  had  two  daughters. 


JOSEPH  DENISON,  the  youngest  child  of  Deacon  Joseph 
Denison,  of  Stonington,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Joseph  and  Prudence  (Minor)  Denison,  of  Stonington, 
was  baptized  on  April  28,  1765.  His  mother  was  Bridget, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  335 

daughter  of  Captain  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Sanford) 
Noyes,  of  Stonington,  and  widow  of  Isaac  Wheeler. 

He  was  elected  to  a  tutorship  in  College  on  September 
15,  1786,  and  entered  on  his  duties  at  the  opening  of  the 
academic  year  in  the  following  month.  He  united  with 
the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his  faith  in  May, 
1787. 

In  July,  1788,  about  six  weeks  before  the  close  of  the 
College  year,  he  was  taken  ill  with  consumptive  symptoms, 
and  obliged  to  go  home. 

On  December  8  he  sailed  for  Georgia,  in  search  of 
health.  He  spent  part  of  the  time  with  the  Rev.  Abiel 
Holmes  (Yale  1783),  in  Midway;  and  about  the  middle 
of  July,  1789,  he  went  to  the  house  of  his  classmate,  Harry 
Caldwell,  in  Petersburg,  where  he  died,  after  a  steady 
decline,  on  August  19,  in  his  25th  year. 

While  an  undergraduate  he  delivered  a  Funeral  Address 
on  a  classmate,  which  was  printed  as  follows : — 

A  Funeral  Oration,  on  the  Death  of  Simeon  Bristol,  of  New- 
Haven  ;  a  Sophimore  in  Yale-College :  who  died  May  23d,  1782, 
aetat.  18.  New-Haven,  1783.  8°,  pp.  15.  [Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Baldwin  and  Clift,  George   Deni-       Hist,  of   Stonington,   347;    Hist,   of 
son's  Descendants,   185.     Pres.  Stiles,       1st  Congregational  Church,  Stoning- 
Literary  Diary,  iii,  30,  239,  244,  262,       ton,  247. 
325,  335,  356,  370-71-    R.  A.  Wheeler, 


HENRY  PACKER  BERING,  the  fourth  and  youngest  child 
of  Thomas  Bering,  of  Shelter  Island,  at  the  east  end  of 
Long  Island,  New  York,  and  grandson  of  Henry  and 
Elizabeth  (Packer)  Bering,  was  born  at  Shelter  Island 
on  July  3,  1763.  His  mother  was  Mary,  daughter  of 
Brinley  and  Mary  (Burroughs)  Sylvester,  of  Shelter 
Island.  Buring  the  Revolution  his  father  lived  in  Middle- 
town,  Connecticut ;  he  returned  to  Shelter  Island,  and  died 
there  in  1785. 


33 6  Yale  College 

Mr.  Bering,  although  retaining  a  considerable  landed 
estate  on  Shelter  Island,  resided  in  Sag  Harbor  on  the 
main  land  of  Long  Island,  directly  south  of  Shelter  Island. 

For  a  few  years  he  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits, 
which  he  relinquished  in  1790,  on  being  appointed  by 
President  Washington, Collector  of  the  Customs  and  Post- 
master at  Sag  Harbor,  which  offices  he  retained  with  uni- 
versal acceptance  to  the  close  of  his  life.  These  and 
kindred  minor  duties,  with  the  affairs  of  his  farm,  kept  him 
very  busy.  He  also  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  for  hospi- 
tality and  the  cultivation  of  the  amenities  of  life,  as  well 
as  for  integrity  and  business  talent. 

He  died  on  April  30,  1822,  in  his  59th  year. 

He  married,  on  December  27,  1793,  Anna,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Fosdick  (Yale  1746),  of  New  London,  Con- 
necticut, who  survived  him,  dying  on  February  21,  1852. 

They  had  four  sons  and  five  daughters.  Dr.  Nicoll  H. 
Dering  (Yale  1813)  was  a  nephew. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Mallmann,   Shelter   Island,   177-78.       373.     Wood,  Sketch  of  L.  I.,  195-97. 
Thompson,  Hist,  of  L.  I.,  2d  ed.,  i, 


HENDRICUS  or  HENDRICK  Dow,  a  son  of  Daniel  and 
Elizabeth  (Marsh)  Dow,  of  Voluntown,  and  later  of  Ash- 
ford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Ashford  in  1761.  A 
younger  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1793. 

His  father  died  in  1772,  and  he  was  fitted  for  College 
by  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Enoch  Pond  (Brown  Univ.  1777). 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Windham  County  Association  of  Minis- 
ters on  May  20,  1788. 

He  preached  for  some  time  in  Sunderland,  Franklin 
County,  Massachusetts,  and  next  in  Shelburne,  in  the 
same  county,  where  he  was  called  to  succeed  the  Rev. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  337 

Robert  Hubbard  (Yale  1769)  in  the  pastoral  office,  on  July 
14,  1789;  but  he  declined  the  call. 

From  September,  1790,.  to  April,  1792,  he  supplied  the 
pulpit  of  the  Fair  Haven  Church,  in  New  Haven,  Connec- 
ticut, then  vacant  by  reason  of  the  recent  removal  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Austin  (Yale  1783) ;  and  on  April  4,  1792, 
he  was  married  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Dana  to  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Deacon  James  Gilbert,  of  the  White  Haven 
Church  in  the  same  city,  and  of  Eunice  (Nichols)  Gilbert. 

But  although  his  career  in  the  pulpit  had  been  brilliant, 
he  abandoned  it  about  the  time  of  his  marriage,  and 
began  the  study  of  law  under  the  Hon.  David  Daggett,  of 
New  Haven. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Windham  County  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  year  1793,  and  practised  his  profession 
with  success  in  Ashford  until  his  death  there,  on  January 
24,  1814,  in  his  53d  year.  His  wife  died  on  November 
27,  1850,  aged  nearly  86  years.  Their  children  were  three 
sons,  of  whom  the  second  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1820, 
and  the  eldest  received  an  honorary  degree  of  M.D.  here 
in  1842.  A  grandson  was  graduated  in  1856. 

He  is  supposed  to  have  been  author  in  part  of  the 
following : — 

A  Poem.    In  Two  Letters.  .  . .     Newfield,  1795.     16°,  pp.  u. 

[Y.  C. 

The  first  letter  purports  to  be  written  by  a  physician  named  S — 1 
C — h,  and  the  answer  to  it  by  a  divinity  student  named  H — y  D — w. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.   Marriages,  i,       County,  ii,  233,  242,  298.    Pres.  Stiles, 
19.      Lamed,     Hist,     of     Windham       Literary  Diary,  iii,  416,  447. 


JAEL  EDSON  was  a  son  of  Abiezer  Edson,  of  Bridge- 
water,  Massachusetts,  and  a  brother  of  Adam  Edson 
(Yale  1775).  He  was  admitted  to  College  in  April  of  the 
Junior  year  from  Dartmouth  College. 


338  Yale  College 

He  studied  medicine  and  settled  in  Albany,  New  York, 
but  is  early  lost  sight  of. 


.  AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  66. 


JOSEPH  ELIOT,  the  elder  son  of  the  Rev.  Jacob  Eliot 
(Harvard  1720),  of  Goshen  Society,  in  Lebanon,  Connec- 
ticut, and  grandson  of  Joseph  and  Silence  Eliot,  of  Boston, 
was  born  on  November  2,  1762.  His  mother  was  Ann 
Blanchard,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut. 

His  father  died  in  his  infancy. 

He  is  believed  to  have  settled  after  graduation  in  North 
Carolina,  but  no  particulars  are  known.  His  name  was 
first  marked  as  deceased  in  the  Triennial  Catalogue  of 
1841. 

,  AUTHORITIES. 
Hine,  Early  Lebanon,  153. 


SAUL  FOWLER,  son  of  Daniel  Fowler,  of  Westfield, 
Massachusetts,  was  born  in  Westfield  on  December  2, 

1759- 

He  joined  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his  faith 

(being  baptized  at  the  same  time)  in  March  of  his  Senior 
year. 

He  returned  to  his  native  town  after  graduation,  but 
about  1788  removed  to  Southwick,  the  adjoining  town  to 
the  southward,  where  he  resided,  following  no  profession, 
until  his  death. 

He  represented  the  town  many  times  in  the  Legislature, 
and  was  for  over  forty  years  a  deacon  in  the  Congrega- 
tional Church. 

He  died  in  Southwick  on  April  20,  1852,  in  his  93d  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1/84  339 

He  married  Elizabeth  Ann,  daughter  of  David  and 
Joanna  Welles,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Davis,  Hist.   Sketch  of  Westfield,       1330.    Pres.    Stiles,    Literary    Diary, 
22.     Orcutt,    Hist,    of    Stratford,   ii,       iii,  116. 


ELIHU  CHAUNCEY  GOODRICH,  the  fourth  son  and  child 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elizur  Goodrich  (Yale  1752),  was  born 
in  Durham,  Connecticut,  on  September  16,  1764. 

He  studied  law,  and  settled  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession in  Claverack,  Columbia  County,  New  York.  He 
also  engaged  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  purchase  and 
sale  of  Western  lands. 

He  died  at  Niagara,  New  York,  about  the  last  of 
August,  1802,  at  the  age  of  38,  from  a  fever  induced  by 
injudicious  exposure  in  bathing  during  an  excursion  on  the 
Lakes.  He  was  never  married. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Case,  Goodrich  Family,  75.     Conn.       Strong    Family,     ii,     1289.     Fowler, 
Courant,    Sept.     13,     1802.     Dwight,       Chauncey  Memorials,  168. 


RAY  GREENE,  elder  son  and  third  child  of  William 
Greene,  Junior,  was  born  at  the  family  seat  in  Warwick, 
Rhode  Island,  on  February  2,  1765.  His  father  and  his 
grandfather  each  filled  the  office  of  Governor  of  the 
Colony.  His  mother  was  Catharine,  daughter  of  Captain 
Simon  and  Deborah  (Greene)  Ray,  of  New  Shoreham, 
Block  Island. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  in  the  office  of  General 
James  M.  Varnum,  at  East  Greenwich,  Rhode  Island,  and 
upon  admission  to  the  bar  began  practice  in  Providence, 
though  retaining  his  residence  in  Warwick  for  his  whole 
life. 


340  Yale  College 

He  was  very  successful  in  practice,  and  in  October, 
1793,  was  appointed  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  which 
office  he  held  until  May,  1798.  He  was  also  during  the 
same  time  District  Attorney  of  the  United  States  for  the 
District  of  Rhode  Island. 

In  1797  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and  served  from  November  of 
that  year  until  his  election  in  1799  for  a  full  term.  Early 
in  1 80 1  he  resigned,  to  accept  the  office  of  District  Judge 
of  the  United  States  for  Rhode  Island;  but  although  his 
appointment  by  President  Adams  was  complete,  some  error 
in  the  wording  of  his  commission  was  discovered,  too  late 
to  be  rectified  by  the  retiring  President ;  and  as  President 
Jefferson  refused  to  correct  it,  Mr.  Greene  retired  to 
private  life,  and  never  again  held  public  office. 

He  died  in  Warwick  on  January  n,  1849,  a£ed  nearly 
84  years. 

He  was  a  man  of  marked  ability,  distinguished  for  the 
courtliness  of  his  manners,  for  great  benevolence  of  heart, 
and  incorruptible  integrity. 

He  married,  on  July  23,  1794,  Mary  Magdalen,  daugh- 
ter of  George  and  Mary  Magdalen  (Henderson)  Flagg, 
who  died  on  July  21,  1817,  aged  44  years.  Their  children 
were  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The  younger  son 
was  Deputy-Governor  of  Rhode  Island.  The  youngest 
daughter  married  Judge  Joseph  S.  Jenckes  (Brown  Uni- 
versity 1824).  

.  AUTHORITIES. 

Appleton,  Cyclopaedia  of  Amer.  Greene,  MS.  Letter,  Sept.  20,  1858. 
Biography,  ii,  755.  Clarke,  The  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  i,  451; 
Greenes  of  R.  I.,  175,  294.  W.  ii,  472. 


ELIJAH  GRIDLEY  was  born  in  Farmington,  Connecticut, 
on  September  21,  1761,  the  son  of  Elnathan  Gridley,  and 
grandson  of  Thomas  Gridley,  of  Farmington.  His 
mother  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  John  and  Mary  (Root) 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  341 

Pratt.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by  the  Rev.  Ammi 
R.  Robbins,  of  Norfolk. 

He  settled  in  the  western  part  of  his  native  town,  and 
married  on  November  i,  1789,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Sarah  (Seymour)  Goodman,  of  Hartford.  She  died 
on  February  12,  1792,  in  her  27th  year,  and  he  next  mar- 
ried, on  November  21,  1793,  Hannah,  eldest  child  of 
Lemuel  Whittlesey,  of  Newington  Parish,  in  Wethersfield, 
Connecticut,  and  sister  of  Roger  Whittlesey  (Yale  1787). 
She  died  on  April  28,  1841,  in  her  76th  year. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  one  daughter,  and  by  his  second 
wife  two  sons.  The  elder  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1819,  and  became  a  missionary. 

Mr.  Gridley,  after  a  life  of  uniform  piety  and  useful- 
ness, died  in  his  native  town,  on  June  12,  1822,  in  his  6ist 
year.  

AUTHORITIES. 

Julius   Gay,   MS.   Letter,    Sept.   8,       sionaries,   127.       Whittlesey  Geneal- 
1905.     Memoirs    of    American    Mis-       ogy,  70,  109-10. 


SETH  HART,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Matthew  Hart, 
of  Kensington  Society  in  the  present  township  of  Berlin, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Matthew  and  Sarah 
(Hooker)  Hart,  of  Kensington,  was  born  on  June  21, 
1763.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Elizabeth  (Galpin)  Hopkins.  Both  parents  were  Congre- 
gationalists. 

It  is  probable  that  he  studied  medicine  after  graduation, 
and  that  while  engaged  in  practice  he  married,  on  October 
7,  1788,  Ruth,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Hall  (Yale  1754), 
of  Cheshire,  then  part  of  Wallingford,  Connecticut,  by 
his  second  wife,  Hannah  Burnham,  of  Kensington.  He 
was  thus  brought  under  the  influence  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  an  elder  sister  of  his  wife  being  the  wife  of  the 
Rev.  Ambrose  Hull  (Harvard  1785),  of  Reading, 
Connecticut. 


34 2  Yale  College 

He  seems  to  have  been  living  in  Branford,  Connecticut, 
in  1790,  and  shortly  before  the  close  of  that  year  he  decided 
to  enter  the  ministry. 

After  having  officiated  for  some  time  as  a  lay  reader  in 
Waterbury,  Connecticut,  he  was  ordained  deacon  at 
Watertown  on  October  9,  1791,  by  Bishop  Seabury.  He 
was  at  once  placed  in  charge  of  St.  James's  Church  in 
Waterbury,  which  he  served  in  conjunction  with  the 
parishes  in  Woodbury  and  Salem,  now  Naugatuck. 
While  thus  engaged  he  was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop  Sea- 
bury,  at  Huntington,  on  October  14,  1792. 

In  the  fall  of  1794  he  became  Rector  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Wallingford,  and  St.  John's,  North  Haven,  and 
served  these  parishes  (residing  in  Wallingford)  with 
abundant  zeal. 

In  the  spring  of  1797  he  went  to  the  Western  Reserve 
of  Ohio  as  General  Agent  and  Chaplain  of  the  surveying 
party  sent  out  by  the  Connecticut  Land  Company  to 
develop  their  settlement  in  Cleveland  and  vicinity,  and 
spent  six  months  in  that  service.  Besides  showing 
remarkable  energy  in  his  conduct  of  the  expedition,  he 
officiated  at  the  first  baptism,  the  first  marriage,  and  the 
first  burial  occurring  in  Cleveland. 

In  the  spring  of  1798,  having  resigned  his  connection 
with  North  Haven,  in  its  place  he  took  charge  of  Christ 
Church  in  Worthington  Parish  in  his  native  town.  With 
all  these  duties  he  yet  found  leisure  to  prepare  young  men 
for  College,  and  to  perfect  several  mechanical  inven- 
tions,— one  of  which,  for  making  nails,  was  patented  in 
January,  1799. 

In  1800  he  was  elected  Rector  of  St.  George's  Parish, 
Hempstead,  Long  Island,  as  successor  to  the  Rev.  John 
Henry  Hobart,  with  a  salary  of  £150,  besides  the  use  of 
a  parsonage  and  two  farms,  and  he  entered  on  this  office 
on  December  21. 

The  parish  was  an  extensive  one,  numbering  about  a 
thousand  souls,  with  two  churches  to  be  served,  but  the 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  343 

rector  was  still  able  to  receive  a  few  pupils  (among  whom 
was  his  nephew,  James  G.  Percival,  Yale  1815)  in  his  own 
house. 

He  was  an  acceptable  preacher,  a  successful  teacher, 
and  an  amiable  man ;  of  genial  and  engaging  manners,  an 
unfailing  fund  of  humor,  and  a  cheerful,  almost  jovial 
temperament. 

A  very  severe  stroke  of  paralysis  in  January,  1829, 
obliged  him  to  resign  his  rectorship  on  the  i6th  of  the 
following  month.  He  was  given  a  small  retiring  pension, 
and  lived  on  in  Hempstead  until  his  death  on  March  14, 
1832,  in  his  69th  year.  His  wife  survived  him,  dying 
also  of  paralysis  on  November  3,  1841,  aged  71  years. 
Their  children  were  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  One 
son  was  graduated  at  Columbia  College,  and  followed  his 
father's  profession. 

His  portrait  is  preserved  in  the  vestry-room  at  Hemp- 
stead,  and  is  reproduced  in  Shepard's  History  of  St. 
Mark's  Church,  New  Britain. 

He  published ; 

A  Sermon  [from  Gen.  xviii,  17],  preached  in  (the  newly  rebuilt) 
St.  George's  Church,  Hempstead,  on  the  first  Sunday  after  it  was 
consecrated,  September  21,  1823.  . .  New-York,  1823.  8°,  pp.  16. 

[Harv.     Y.  C. 

A  Sermon  which  he  preached  in  Worthington  Parish,  Wethers- 
field,  in  1795,  is  printed  from  his  manuscript  in  Shepard's  History 
of  St.  Mark's  Church. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,     Hist,     of     Waterbury,  Hist,  of  St.  George's  Church,  Hemp- 

i,   656.    Andrews,   Hart   Family,   54,  stead,  196-201.     Onderdonk,    Queens 

72-73.     Branson,    Hist,    of    Water-  County    in    the    Olden    Times,    91. 

bury,    304.     Churchman's    Magazine,  Shepard,  Hist,  of  St.  Mark's  Church, 

iv,  172.     Conn.  Convocation  Records,  New   Britain,    141-48,    151,    153,    169, 

167.    Davis,    Hist,    of    Wallingford,  171-82.    Sprague,     Annals     of     the 

257.    Rev.    Wm.    Howard    Falkner,  Amer.  Pulpit,  v,  400-01.    Pres.  Stiles, 

MS.  Sketch  of  Rev.  S.  Hart.     Jour-  Diary,   ii,   458.     Thompson,   Hist,  of 

nal  of  the  Convention  of   the   Dio-  L.  I.,  2d  ed.,  ii,  35.     Whittlesey,  Early 

cese  of  N.  Y.,  1832,  21,  64.    Moore,  Hist,  of  Cleveland,  143,  275. 


344  Yale  College 

SIMEON  HINMAN,  elder  son  of  (Lawyer)  Edward  Hin- 
man,  of  Southbury  Parish,  in  Woodbury,  Connecticut,  and 
nephew  of  Simeon  Hinman  (Yale  1762),  was  baptized  in 
March,  1766.  His  mother  was  Ann,  youngest  daughter 
of  Nathan  and  Martha  (Preston)  Curtis,  of  Woodbury. 
He  was  a  second  cousin  of  his  classmate,  Timothy  Hin- 
man, and  his  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1789. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  and  in  1793  began 
practice  in  Southbury.  He  continued  at  the  bar  until 
about  1809;  during  the  remainder  of  his  life  he  aban- 
doned his  profession.  He  was  possessed  of  superior 
talents,  but  having  a  competent  estate  he  preferred  a  life 
of  pleasure  and  good  company  to  any  higher  object. 

He  served  as  a  Representative  in  October,  1803,  and  in 
May,  1811. 

He  died  in  Southbury  in  June,  1825,  in  his  6oth  year. 

He  was  never  married,  though  reputed  to  be  especially 
fond  of  ladies'  society. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  373,       tiers,  840. 
562.    Hinman,    Conn.    Puritan    Set- 


TIMOTHY  HINMAN,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  Truman 
Hinman,  of  Southbury  Parish,  in  Woodbury,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Captain  Wait  and  Ann  (Hurd)  Hinman, 
of  Southbury,  was  born  on  July  14,  1764.  His  mother 
was  Olive,  eldest  child  of  Captain  Timothy  and  Emma 
(Preston)  Hinman,  of  Southbury.  She  was  a  second 
cousin  of  her  husband's  father. 

He  spent  his  life  as  a  merchant  and  farmer  in  South- 
bury.  The  only  offices  which  he  filled  were  in  connection 
with  the  militia,  in  which  he  attained  the  rank  of  Major. 

He  died  in  Southbury  on  June  18,  1810,  aged  nearly  46 
years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  345 

He  married  on  January  10,  1791,  his  second  cousin, 
Sarah  Ann,  eldest  child  of  Edward  Hinman,  of  Southbury, 
and  sister  of  his  classmate. 

She  died  on  June  17,  1845,  aged  80  years. 


.  AUTHORITIES. 

Cothren,    Hist,    of    Woodbury,   i,       Puritan  Settlers,  840,  861. 
562;     iii,   475,    506.    Hinman,   Conn. 


URIEL  HOLMES,  the  only  child  of  Uriel  and  Statira 
Holmes,  of  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Deacon  Christopher  and  Sarah  (Andrews)  Holmes,  of 
East  Haddam,  was  born  in  East  Haddam  on  August  26, 
1764.  His  mother,  who  was  only  15  years  old  at  her  son's 
birth,  was  a  sister  of  his  classmate,  Daniel  Cone.  The 
family  soon  removed  to  Hartland,  Connecticut,  where  the 
father  became  Deacon  of  the  Church  and  Colonel  of 
Militia.  The  son  was  baptized  in  Hartland  on  June  n, 
1769. 

He  established  himself  as  an  attorney  in  Litchfield, 
Connecticut,  where  he  stood  high  in  his  profession  and  sus- 
tained an  excellent  character.  He  was  chosen  nine  times 
(1803-14)  a  Representative  in  the  State  Legislature,  was 
a  Judge  of  the  Litchfield  County  Court  from  1814  to  1817, 
and  during  the  latter  year  was  elected  a  Representative  in 
Congress,  but  resigned  in  1818. 

While  driving  through  Canton,  Connecticut,  in  May, 
1827,  he  was  thrown  from  his  carriage  and  so  injured  that 
he  died  after  a  few  days'  confinement,  in  Canton,  on  May 
18,  in  his  63d  year.  He  was  buried  in  Litchfield. 

He  was  considerably  above  medium  height,  with  open 
countenance  and  commanding  voice,  was  gentlemanly  in 
his  deportment,  and  in  every  way  a  man  of  prepossessing 
appearance  and  much  dignity. 

He  married,  on  October  24,  1794,  Esther,  second  daugh- 
ter of  Judge  Aaron  and  Esther  (Kellogg)  Austin,  of  New 


346  Yale  College 

Hartford,  Connecticut,  who  died  in  Litchfield  of  consump- 
tion on  August  30,  1802,  in  her  3ist  year. 

They  had  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  daughter 
died  in  infancy.  The  elder  son  was  graduated  at  the 
Yale  Medical  School  in  1826.  The  younger  son  was  grad- 
uated at  Yale  College  in  1816,  and  died  while  studying 
theology. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Hopkins,  The  Kelloggs  in  the  New       and      Morris      Inscriptions,      78-79. 
World,   i,   212.    Kilbourne,  Hist,   of       Woodruff,   Genealogical  Register  of 
Litchfield,    194.     Patterson,    Holmes       Litchfield,  109. 
Genealogy,  62,  68.    Payne,  Litchfield 


THOMAS  HOLT,  the  third  son  of  Daniel  Holt,  of  that 
part  of  Wallingford  which  is  now  Meriden,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Daniel  and  Rebecca  (,Head)  Holt,  of 
Wallingford,  was  born  in  Meriden  on  November  9,  1762. 
His  mother  was  Mary,  elder  daughter  of  Nathaniel  and 
Abigail  (Hotchkiss)  Barnes,  of  East  Haven,  Connecticut. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  College  Church  on  profession 
of  his  faith  in  July  of  his  Junior  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  Professor 
Wales  at  Yale  College,  and  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin 
Trumbull,  of  North  Haven. 

On  April  6,  1789,  the  town  of  Hardwick,  Worcester 
County,  Massachusetts,  unanimously  concurred  with  the 
Congregational  Church  in  extending  to  him  an  invitation 
to  become  their  pastor,  with  a  salary  of  three  hundred 
dollars. 

He  accepted  the  call,  and  was  ordained  on  June  25, — 
the  sermon  on  that  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Trumbull 
being  afterwards  published. 

His  pastorate  was  uneventful,  and  unmarked  by  any 
seasons  of  religious  revival.  He  followed  the  Hopkinsian 
system  of  doctrines. 

His  parishioners  finally  grew  weary  of  him,  so  that 
when  he  appealed  to  the  town-meeting,  on  March  4,  1805, 
for  an  increase  of  salary,  on  the  ground  that  the  amount 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  347 

received  was  less  than  his  necessary  expenditures,  the  town 
(much  to  his  surprise)  unanimously  refused  his  request, 
and  consented  to  his  alternative  proposition  for  a 
dismission. 

An  ecclesiastical  council  was  accordingly  called,  which 
granted  him  an  honorable  dismission  on  March  27. 

After  this  he  preached  occasionally,  as  opportunity 
offered,  until  January  25,  1809,  when  he  was  installed  as 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Chebacco  Parish,  Ipswich,  Massa- 
chusetts, which  afterwards  became  the  town  of  Essex. 
But  this  new  home  was  not  permanent.  He  was  esteemed 
a  sound,  scriptural  preacher ;  but  after  hearing  him  two  or 
three  years,  his  parishioners  began  to  complain  of  a  want 
of  sufficient  variety  in  his  discourses,  which  they  at  first 
imputed  to  his  not  writing  them.  They  therefore  chose 
a  committee  to  wait  on  him,  and  request  him  to  write  his 
sermons.  With  this  he  complied ;  and  as  the  evil,  in  their 
judgment,  was  not  removed,  they  then  requested  him  to 
resign.  With  this  also  he  complied;  and  a  Council  dis- 
missed him  on  April  20,  1813. 

He  returned  to  Hardwick,  and  during  the  rest  of  his  life 
cultivated  his  farm  there,  and  preached  as  he  had  oppor- 
tunity. He  spent  considerable  time  in  missionary  work 
in  the  other  New  England  States,  on  which  occasions  he 
was  often  absent  for  six  months  at  a  time  and  performed 
a  large  amount  of  exhausting  labor. 

He  died  in  Hardwick,  after  a  life  of  consistent  piety, 
on  February  21,  1836,  in  his  74th  year. 

He  married,  on  May  5,  1796,  Sarah,  second  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Chaplin  (Yale  1763),  of  Sutton,  in 
the  same  county,  who  died  on  July  4,  1854,  aged  84  years. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  three  sons. 

He  published : 

A  Sermon  [from  2  Tim.  i,  13],  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of 
the  Rev.  Reed  Paige  .  .  in  Hancock,  State  of  Newhampshire,  Sep- 
tember 2ist,  1791.  Worcester,  1792.  8°,  pp.  44. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

Mr.  Paige  was  a  parishioner  of  the  author. 


348  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Quart.  Register,  x,  49,  57.  400.  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer. 
Boston  Recorder,  Apr.  i,  1836.  Pulpit,  i,  585.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
Crowell,  Hist,  of  Essex,  269.  Paige,  Diary,  iii,  81,  129.  Tuttle  Family, 
Hist,  of  Hardwick,  Mass.,  196-206,  176. 


HEATON  HUGGINS,  son  of  Samuel  Huggins,  of  Bran- 
ford  and  New  Haven,  was  born  in  the  latter  place  on  June 
14,  1768.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Orchard  and  Mary  (Foote)  Guy,  of  Branford,  Connecti- 
cut. He  was  named  for  his  father's  mother,  Sarah 
Heaton,  of  New  Haven. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town,  and  was  engaged  in  busi- 
ness as  a  grocer. 

He  married  Rachel,  second  daughter  of  Captain  Abra- 
ham and  Amy  (Hemingway)  Bradley,  of  New  Haven. 

In  the  summer  of  1794  New  Haven  was  visited  with  an 
epidemic  of  yellow  fever.  Mr.  Huggins  died  on  October 
6,  in  his  27th  year ;  and  his  widow  died  five  days  later,  in 
her  28th  year.  One  child  died  of  the  same  disorder;  an 
older  son  survived  his  parents. 


AUTHORITIES. 

N.   H.    Colony  Hist.    Soc.   Papers,       Diary,  iii,  540-42.    Tuttle  Family,  286. 
iii,     541-42.    Pres.     Stiles,    Literary 


JABEZ  HUNTINGTON,  the  only  child  of  General  Jedidiah 
Huntington  (Harvard  College  1763),  of  Norwich,  Con- 
necticut, by  his  first  wife,  Faith,  elder  daughter  of 
Governor  Jonathan  and  Faith  (Robinson)  Trumbull,  of 
Lebanon,  was  born  in  Lebanon  on  September  17,  1767. 
His  youth  was  spent  with  his  grandfather  Trumbull,  after 
his  mother's  death  in  1775.  Two  half-brothers  were 
graduated  here  in  1804  and  1807,  respectively. 

He  pursued  a  business  career  in  Norwich,  and  was 
highly  respected,  as  a  man  of  marked  conscientiousness, 
and  positiveness  of  conviction. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  349 

He  was  at  first  connected  with  the  Episcopal  Society  in 
Norwich,  but  later  united  with  the  Second  Congregational 
Church,  and  became  a  deacon  in  that  society. 

He  was  connected  with  the  Norwich  Bank,  either  as 
Director  or  President,  from  its  organization  in  1796  until 
about  a  year  before  his  death. 

He  died  in  Norwich  on  August  16,  1848,  aged  nearly 
8 1  years.  For  the  last  year  or  two  of  his  life  his  reason 
was  obscured. 

He  married,  on  December  12,  1792,  Mary,  third  daugh- 
ter of  Peter  Lanman,  of  Norwich,  and  sister  of  the  Hon. 
James  Lanman  (Yale  1788).  She  died  on  September  29, 
1809,  in  her  37th  year;  and  he  next  married  her  eldest 
sister,  Sarah,  or  Sally,  on  October  21,  1810,  who  died  on 
February  19,  1850,  in  her  85th  year.  She  was  totally 
blind  for  twenty  years  before  her  death. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1814,  and  the 
youngest  in  1828.  The  elder  daughter  married  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Edward  W.  Hooker  (Middlebury  Coll.  1814),  and  the 
younger  married  the  Rev.  Dr.  Eli  Smith  (Yale  1821). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Huntington  Family,  242.     Perkins,       Talcott,  Geneal.  Notes  of  N.  E.  and 
Old    Houses    of    Norwich,   224,   485.       N.  Y.  Families,  571,  574-76. 
Pres.   Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  472. 


RALPH  ISAACS,  son  of  Ralph  Isaacs  (Yale  1761),  of 
New  Haven  and  Branford,  Connecticut,  was  baptized  by 
the  Rev.  Bela  Hubbard  in  New  Haven  on  December  6, 
1767.  He  received  the  Berkeley  Scholarship  at  gradua- 
tion. 

He  spent  part  of  the  years  1786  and  1787  in  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  was  reported  to  have  killed  a 
Charleston  physician  in  a  duel  in  the  former  year. 

In  the  spring  of  1789  he  was  studying  law  in  New 
Haven,  and  in  September  of  the  same  year  he  married 


35°  Yale  College 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  DeKoven,  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  a 
daughter  of  Jacob  Sebor,  of  Middletown.  She  had 
secured  a  divorce,  on  the  ground  of  desertion,  from  her 
first  husband,  John  Louis  DeKoven,  who  was  Sergeant 
Major  of  a  regiment  of  Hessians  in  the  British  army 
during  our  Revolution. 

In  1794  he  was  in  business  in  New  Haven  as  a  dealer  in 
groceries  and  dry  goods. 

He  afterwards  lived  principally  at  the  South.  He  was 
living  in  Baltimore  in  1800,  and  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  in 
1809. 

He  died  in  Philadelphia,  on  August  8,  1815,  in  his  48th 
year.  In  the  notice  of  his  death  he  is  given  the  title  of 
Colonel. 

He  did  not  practice  his  profession  steadily,  but  "lived  by 
his  wits" ;  and  his  reputation  was  that  of  a  man  destitute 
of  fixed  principle,  and  addicted  to  gambling  and  other 
vices. 

A  daughter  died  in  Augusta  in  1809,  at  the  age  of  16. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Diary,  ii,  521 ;  iii,  120,  249,  348. 


MELINES  CONKLIN  LEAVENWORTH,  the  eldest  child  of 
Captain  Jesse  Leaven  worth  (Yale  1759),  was  born  in 
•Waterbury,  Connecticut,  on  January  4,  1762.  He  was 
probably  named  for  a  brother  of  his  mother. 

He  went  South  after  graduation,  and  settled  as  a  planter 
in  Augusta,  Georgia,  or  rather  a  little  below  Hamburg, 
South  Carolina,  on  the  bank  of  the  Savannah  opposite 
Augusta;  and  there  he  died,  on  July  20,  1822,  in  his  6ist 
year. 

He  married  in  1801  Mrs.  Anne  Lamar,  of  Augusta,  but 
had  no  children;  a  daughter  by  Mrs.  Leavenworth's  first 
husband  was  the  wife  of  Governor  John  Milledge,  of 
Georgia. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1/84  351 

AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,  Hist,   of   Waterbury,   i,       Waterbury,     516-17.       Leavenworth 
Appendix,    83.    Branson,    Hist,     of       Genealogy,  91,   141. 


CHAUNCEY  LEE,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan 
Lee  (Yale  1742)  by  his  second  wife,  Love  (Graham) 
Brinkerhoff,  was  born  in  Salisbury,  Litchfield  County, 
Connecticut,  on  November  9,  1763.  He  was  prepared  for 
College  by  his  father. 

Shortly  after  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  the  law 
under  the  Hon.  John  Canfield  (Yale  1762),  of  Sharon, 
Connecticut;  and  on  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1787,  he 
opened  an  office  in  his  native  town. 

Early  in  1788  he  married  Abigail  Stanton,  of  Salisbury, 
sister  of  Joshua  Stanton,  Junior  (Yale  1788).  Soon  after 
this  a  change  occurred  in  his  feelings  on  the  subject  of 
religion,  and  the  legal  profession  being  also  somewhat  dis- 
tasteful to  him,  he  resolved  to  enter  the  ministry.  Accord- 
ingly he  spent  some  months  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen 
West,  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Ministerial  Association  of  Litchfield  County 
on  June  3,  1789. 

Meantime  his  father  had  died  (in  October,  1788),  and 
after  his  licensure  he  filled  for  a  while  very  acceptably  the 
vacant  pulpit  in  Salisbury,  but  was  not  inclined  to  accept 
a  call.  About  the  same  time  his  father-in-law,  with  a 
number  of  other  inhabitants  of  Salisbury,  removed  to  Ver- 
mont, and  this  led  to  Mr.  Lee's  being  invited  to  the  care 
of  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  Sunderland,  in  that 
county,  over  which  he  was  ordained  on  March  18,  1790, 
A  curious  controversy  which  arose  between  this  Church 
and  another  formed  in  the  same  town,  with  regard  to  the 
ordination  of  the  first  minister,  is  referred  to  in  a  former 
volume  of  this  work,  in  the  notice  of  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Sherwin  (Yale  1759). 

Mr.  Lee  resigned  his  charge  in  1795  or  1796  on  account 
of  the  inability  of  his  people  to  furnish  him  an  adequate 


35 2  Yale  College 

support.  In  the  following  winter  he  was  living  in  Bur- 
lington, Vermont,  and  in  1797-98  he  taught  in  Lansing- 
burg,  New  York. 

He  then  preached  in  Hudson,  New  York,  for  a  year  or 
more. 

In  the  fall  of  1799  he  removed  to  his  native  town,  and  on 
February  12,  1800,  he  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Colebrook,  in  the  same  county,  then 
consisting  of  forty-nine  members. 

His  wife  died  in  Colebrook,  after  a  lingering  and  dis- 
tressing illness  of  about  eleven  months,  on  Octpber  20, 
1805,  in  her  36th  year ;  and  he  next  married,  in  February, 
1807,  Olive,  widow  of  Alexander  Spencer  (a  younger 
brother  of  Chief  Justice  Ambrose  Spencer),  of  Amenia 
and  North  East,  New  York,  and  daughter  of  Captain 
Jared  and  Asenath  (Stevens)  Harrison,  of  Salisbury. 

She  died  on  January  5,  1818,  in  her  44th  year;  and  he 
married  thirdly,  on  October  15,  1818,  Mrs.  Rebecca 
Haynes,  the  widow  of  a  Virginia  gentleman,  and  daughter 
of  Colonel  Samuel  Green,  of  New  London. 

The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  conferred  on 
him  by  Columbia  College  in  1823. 

His  pastorate  in  Colebrook  continued  until  the  last  of 
January,  1828,  when  he  resigned  in  consequence  of  repre- 
sentations that  he  had  lost  his  influence  with  the  young 
people  of  the  parish. 

On  September  29,  1828,  he  was  called  to  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Marlborough,  Connecticut,  and  was 
installed  there  on  November  18.  This  charge  he  resigned 
on  January  u,  1837,  partly  in  consequence  of  declining 
health,  and  partly  from  discouragement. 

After  this  he  removed  to  the  house  of  his  eldest  daugh- 
ter, in  Hartwick,  Otsego  County,  New  York,  where  his 
wife  died,  and  where  he  continued  until  his  own  death, 
after  a  brief  illness,  on  November  5,  1842,  aged  79  years. 

Dr.  Lee  had  an  active  mind,  was  fond  of  study,  and  was 
an  instructive  and  earnest  preacher;  in  his  theological 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  353 

views  he  was  in  general  accord  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Emmons. 
He  was  very  courteous  and  agreeable,  and  was  noted  for 
his  facetiousness.  ,He  had  also  considerable  musical 
taste,  which  he  displayed  both  as  a  composer  and  as  a 
performer. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  one  daughter  and  two  sons ; 
the  younger  son  was  graduated  at  Middlebury  College  in 
1817,  and  became  a  clergyman.  By  his  second  marriage 
he  had  also  one  daughter  and  two  sons;  the  daughter 
married  Dr.  Gardner  M.  Dorrance  (Williams  College 
1820). 

He  published : 

1.  An  Oration  delivered  at  Lansingburgh,  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
A.  D.  1797,  in  celebration  of  the  Twenty-first  Anniversary  of  Amer- 
ican Independence.     Lansingburgh:     i/9/.     8°,  pp.   16. 

[R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

2.  The  American  Accomptant ;   being  a  plain,  practical  and  sys- 
tematic   Compendium   of    Federal    Arithmetic    .  .     Lansingburgh, 
1797.     12°,  pp.  300,  xii  +  pi. 

[Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  this  work  was  the  first  to  use  the  sign 
now  commonly  in  use  for  the  dollar  ($). 

3.  The  tree  of  knowledge  of  political  good  and  evil. — A  Discourse 
[from  Gen.  iii,  2-3,  and  Deut.  xxxii,  17],  delivered  at  Colebrook,  on 
the  twenty-fourth  anniversary  of  American  Independence,  July  4th, 
1800.    Hartford,  1800.    8°,  pp.  31. 

[B.  *Ath.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

A  strong  Federalist  argument. 

4.  The  Trial  of  Virtue,  a  Sacred  Poem;   being  a  paraphrase  of 
the  whole  Book  of  Job  . .  .  — To  which  is  annexed,  a  Dissertation 
upon  the  Book  of  Job.     Hartford,  1806.     12°,  pp.  226. 

[U.S.    Y.  C. 

5.  The   Government  of   God  the  true   source  and  standard  of 
human  government— A  Sermon  [from  Matth.  vi,  13],  preached  on 
the  day  of  the  General  Election,  at  Hartford,  .  .  May  I3th,  1813. 
Hartford,  1813.     8°,  pp.  56. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S. 
M.  H.  S.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 
23 


354  Yale  College 

6.  The   faithful  servants  of  God,  the  benefactors  of  men. — A 
Sermon  [from  2  Kings,  ii,  12],  delivered  at  the  Funeral  of  the  Rev. 
Ammi  Ruhamah  Robbins,  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Nor- 
folk, who  departed  this  life,  October  31,   1813.     Hartford,   1814. 
8°,  pp.  43- 

[A.A.S.    A.C.A.    B.  Ath.    Brown.    C.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  author  had  already  published,  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical 
Magazine  for  December,  1813  (pp.  450-54),  a  less  complete  sketch, 
entitled,  Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  Ammi  Ruhamah  Robbins. 

7.  The  Importance  of  the  Gospel  Ministry. — A  Sermon   [from 
Isa.  Hi,  7],  preached  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Lee,  .  . 
in  Otis,  June  28th,  1815.  .  .     Pittsfield.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

Jonathan  Lee  (Yale  1809)  was  a  nephew  of  the  author.  The 
sermon  occupies  pp.  1-28. 

8.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Cor.  v,  8],  delivered  at  the  Funeral  of  Mrs. 
Asenath  Harrison,  of  Salisbury,  (Con.)  wife  of  Capt.  Jared  Har- 
rison, who  departed  this  life  June  i6th,  1816,  aet.  66.    Poughkeepsie, 
1816.     8°,  pp.  23.  [A.  C.  A.     Brit.  Mus. 

Mrs.  Harrison  was  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Lee. 

9.  A  Sermon  [from  Prov.  xiv,  32]   delivered  at  the  Funeral  of 
Mr.  Cyrus  Babcock,  A.B.  son  of  Elder  Rufus  Babcock,  Pastor  of 
the  Baptist  Church  in  Colebrook ;   .  .   who  departed  life,  in  Cole- 
brook,  on  Thursday,   March  6,   1817;    aged  28  years:    and  was 
interred  on  the  Lord's  Day  following.    Hartford,  1817.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[Y.  C. 

10.  Correspondence  between  Mr. ,  a  member  of  —  College, 

and  the  Rev. ,  of  — ,  — .    Andover  (New  England  Tract  Soci- 
ety), 1821.     12°,  pp.  16.  [Y.  C. 

This  correspondence  between  Dr.  Lee  and  John  Todd  (Yale  1821) 
was  published  with  the  object  of  awakening  interest  in  the  work  of 
the  American  Education  Society,  for  helping  students  for  the 
ministry. 

11.  Sermons  on  the  distinguishing  doctrines  and  duties  of  exper- 
imental  religion,   and   especially  designed   for  Revivals.     Middle- 
town,  1824.     12°,  pp.  479.  [A.  C.  A.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

Containing  forty-eight  sermons. 

12.  Scriptural  Hymns,  adapted  to  Sermons  designed  for  Revivals. 
Middletown,  1824.     12°.  [Y.  C.  (imperfect.) 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  355 

Published  in  connection  with  the  preceding  volume,  and  also 
containing  a  few  miscellaneous  hymns. 

13.  The  Remembrancer. — A   Farewell   Sermon    [from  Rev.   iii, 
3],  delivered  in  Colebrook,  on  the  first  Sabbath  in  February,  1828. 
Hartford,  1828.     8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  C.  A.     C.  H.  S.    Harv.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

14.  Letters  from  Aristarchus  to  Philemon;   in  which  the  distin- 
guishing  doctrines   of   the   Gospel   are   discussed,   and  objections 
stated  and  answered.     Hartford,   1833.     12°,  pp.  221. 

[A.  C.  A.     U.  T.  S. 

Written  to  recall  the  arguments  of  Hopkins  and  Edwards  on  the 
Arminian  controversy,  and  containing  animadversions  on  the  New 
Haven  theology  of  Dr.  Taylor  and  his  school. 


.  AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Evangelical  Magazine,  vi,  408,  414-15.  N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal. 
344-50.  Dwight,  Strong  Family,  ii,  Register,  xxviii,  401.  N.  Y.  Ob- 
poo,  982-83.  Fowler,  Chauncey  Me-  server,  Dec.  24,  1842.  Sprague,  An- 
morials,  230-31.  Goodwin,  Geneal.  nals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  288-91. 
Notes,  322.  Hall,  Marlborough  Cen-  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  443. 
tennial,  19,  59-60.  Hemcnway,  Ver-  Trumbull,  Hist,  of  Hartford  County, 
mont  Gazetteer,  i,  240.  John  Lee  of  .  ii,  270-71. 
Farmington  and  Descendants,  2d  ed., 


WILLIAM  LORD,  fourth  son  and  fifth  child  of  Captain 
Enoch  Lord,  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Richard  and  Elizabeth  (Lynde)  Lord,  of  Lyme,  was  born 
in  that  town  on  July  16,  1762.  His  mother  was  Hepzibah, 
only  surviving  child  of  Joseph  and  Jane  (Lay)  Marvin, 
of  Lyme. 

He  studied  medicine  and  settled  in  an  active  and  success- 
ful practice  in  Stonington,  Connecticut,  where  he  con- 
tinued until  about  the  year  1837,  when  he  retired  to  his 
native  town,  where  he  died  on  February  13,  1852,  in  his 
9Oth  year. 

Dr.  Lord  married  on  September  4,  1790,  Anna,  eldest 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Lois  (Griswold)  Mather,  of 
Lyme,  who  died  in  Stonington  on  October  31,  1818,  at  the 
age  of  51. 


356  Yale  College 

He  next  married  Nancy  Howe,  of  Stonington. 
He  had  no  children  by  either  marriage. 


AUTHORITIES. 

N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,       tories  and  Genealogies,  i,  316.     Wal- 
xxxi,    211.     Salisbury,    Family    His-       worth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i,  159. 


WILLIAM  LYMAN,  the  second  of  nine  children  and  eldest 
son  of  William  and  Mary  (Barker)  Lyman,  of  Lebanon, 
Connecticut,  and  a  nephew  of  Jonathan  Lyman  (Yale 
1758),  was  born  in  Lebanon  on  September  5,  1764.  A 
brother  was  graduated  here  in  1797. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  College  Church  on  profession 
of  his  faith  in  July  of  his  Junior  year.  After  graduation 
he  studied  theology,  and  was  ordained  on  December  13, 
1787,  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Milling- 
ton  Society,  in  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  where  he  soon 
became  known  as  one  of  the  most  popular  and  eloquent 
preachers  in  that  region.  He  was  gifted  with  an  unusu- 
ally, powerful  voice  and  an  easy  flow  of  words,  and  all  his 
writings  showed  vigor;  while  his  dry  humor  and  eccen- 
tricity were  manifested  even  in  the  pulpit.  The  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  given  him  by  Princeton 
College  in  1808.  • 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  ministry  he  became  afflicted 
with  hypochondria;  and  this,  in  connection  with  his 
masterful  manner,  finally  aroused  a  desire  for  a  change. 
At  a  Society  meeting  on  May  23,  1822,  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  consider  the  situation,  and  in  accordance  with 
their  suggestions  an  ecclesiastical  council  was  called  which 
dismissed  the  pastor  on  August  28.  His  farewell  sermon, 
replete  with  denunciations  of  the  sins  and  shortcomings 
of  his  flock,  was  delivered  with  such  vigor  and  eloquence 
that  it  was  long  remembered. 

From  Millington  he  removed  to  Western  New  York, — 
several  of  his  children  being  already  settled  in  Livingston 


Biographical  Sketches,  i£§4  357 

County.  For  a  few  years  he  performed  some  useful  ser- 
vice as  a  home  missionary,  in  connection  with  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  principally  in  Livingston  and  Wyoming 
Counties;  but  a  tendency  to  excessive  mental  depression 
overshadowed  these  later  years  and  put  an  end  to  all  public 
activities. 

He  died  in  the  town  of  China,  now  Arcade,  in  Wyoming 
County,  New  York,  on  June  5,  1833,  in  his  69th  year. 

Dr.  Lyman  married,  on  December  24,  1789,  Rhoda, 
fourth  daughter  of  Captain  William  and  Bethia  (Throop) 
Huntington,  of  Lebanon,  by  whom  he  had  seven  daughters 
and  three  sons.  The  second  son  entered  the  ministry. 

He  published : 

1.  Modern  Refinement.     Or  the  Art  of  Dancing,  as  taught  and 
practiced  at  the  present  day,  considered  in  reference  to  its  moral 
tendency. — A  Discourse    [from  Job  xxi,    14],   delivered  at  East- 
Haddam,  Second  Society,  Dec.  24,  1800:  at  a  Public  Lecture.    New- 
London,  1801.    8°,  pp.  19.  [Brown  Univ.    Y.  C. 

2.  A   Virtuous   Woman  the  bond   of   domestic   union,   and  the 
source  of   domestic   happiness.      Considered   in   a   Sermon    [from 
Prov.  xxxi,  28],  delivered  at  Lyme,  Jan.  6,  1802;    at  the  Funeral 
of  Mrs.  Sarah  Griswold,  wife  of  Deacon  John  Griswold  .  . .     New- 
London,  1802.    8°,  pp.  23.  [A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    Harv. 

3.  A  Sermon  [from  Dent,  xviii,  6-7],  delivered  at  Hamden,  Sept. 
9th,   1802 ;    at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Asa  Lyman.   .  .     New 
Haven,  1802.     8°,  pp.  26. 

[B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Y.  C. 

The  year  of  delivery  was  1800,  not  1802. 

4.  The  Happy  Nation. — A  Sermon  [from  Jer.  xxxi,  23],  preached 
at  the  Anniversary  Election,  in  Hartford,  May  8th,  1806.    Hartford, 
1806.    8°,  pp.  42. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  State  Libr. 
U.  S.    Y.  C. 

5.  The  people  of  God  conducted  to  Zion,  and  made  joyful  in  His 
House  of  Prayer:    or  God's  House  an  House  of  Prayer  for  all 
people.    A  Sermon  [from  Isa.  Ivi,  7],  delivered  at  Lebanon,  in  the 
South  Society,  at  the  Dedication  of  the  New  Brick  Meeting  House, 
January  21,   1807.     Hartford,   1807.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.     Y.  C. 


358  Yale  College 

6.  The  design  and  benefits  of  Instrumental  Musick.     Considered 
in  a  Sermon  [from  Zech.  xiv,  20],  Delivered  at  Lebanon  Goshen, 
May  7,  1807,  on  the  occasion  of  having  an  Organ  introduced  as  an 
aid  in  the  worship  and  melody  of  God's  house.    New-London,  1807. 
8°,  pp.  18.  [B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.     Y.  C. 

7.  A  Sermon   [from  Phil,  iii,  8],  delivered  in  Goshen,  October 
24th,  1810,  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Harvey  . .     Hart- 
ford.   8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.  '  Brozm  Univ.    Y.  C, 

8.  A  Discourse  [from  Hosea  xiv,  3],  delivered  April  2,  1811,  at 
the  Funeral  of  Capt.  Amos  Loomis,  in  Lyme   .  .     Norwich,  1811. 
8°,  pp.  15- 

And,  as  part  of  the  above,  without  separate  imprint: — A  Discourse 
[from  Hebr.  xii,  5-6],  delivered  in  Lyme,  April  29,  1811,  at  the 
Funeral  of  Mr.  Joseph  Loomis,  of  Lebanon.  .  .  8°,  pp.  15. 

[Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 

Mr.  Joseph  Loomis  was  the  father  of  Capt.  Amos  Loomis. 

9.  A  Missionary  Sermon  [from  Ps.  Ixxiv,  20],  delivered  at  Hart- 
ford, on  the  evening  of  May  14,  1811.    Hartford,  1811.    8°,  pp.  19. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    M.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

This  sermon  was  also  printed  (from  the  same  type)  in  the  Con- 
necticut Evangelical  Magazine  for  June,  1811,  pp.  201-14. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Coleman,  Lyman  Family,  168,  170-       Chimney  Stacks  of  E.  Haddam,  49- 
71.     Conn.    Courant,   June   24,    1833.       51.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii, 
Huntington    Family,     183.      Loomis       81. 
Female  Genealogy,  i,  335.    Niles,  Old 


WILLIAM  MANSFIELD,  the  seventh  in  a  family  of  twelve 
children  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Mansfield  (Yale  1741), 
of  Derby,  Connecticut,  was  baptized  on  January  12,  1764. 

His  life  was  spent  in  Derby,  where  he  was  a  merchant, 
carrying  on  an  extensive  business,  though  he  died  insolv- 
ent. He  was  also  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  linseed 
oil. 

He  died  in  that  part  of  Derby  which  is  now  Seymour, 
on  October  I,  1816,  in  his  53d  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  359 

He  married  Eunice  Hull,  by  whom  he  had  seven  daugh- 
ters and  four  sons. 

His  wife  survived  him,  with  five  of  their  daughters. 
All  of  the  children  died  unmarried  except  two  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Mansfield    Genealogy,    66,    115-16.       Vital  Statistics  of  Seymour,  109. 
Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Derby,  745.    Sharpe, 


SILAS  MARSH,  the  eldest  child  of  Silas  Marsh  (Yale 
1764),  of  Amenia,  Duchess  County,  New  York,  was  born 
on  January  18  [or  28],  1766.  He  had  a  considerable 
reputation  while  in  College  for  literary  ability. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  in  Poughkeepsie,  New 
York;  but  his  chief  occupation  consisted  in  the  buying  and 
selling  of  Revolutionary  soldiers'  claims. 

He  thus  acquired  much  land  in  the  western  part  of  the 
State,  and  died  in  the  township  of  Victor,  Ontario  County. 
His  name  was  first  starred  in  the  Triennial  Catalogue  of 
Graduates  printed  in  1829. 

/He  held  the  rank  of  Major  in  the  militia  from  1807  to 
1815. 

He  married  Elizabeth  Beebe,  a  neighbor  from  child- 
hood, on  May  10,  1792,  and  had  by  her  nine  daughters  and 
six  sons — the  youngest  born  in  1816. 

Mrs.  Marsh  was  born  in  April,  1774,  and  died  about 
1870.  _ 

,  AUTHORITIES. 

Marsh  (Hartford)  Genealogy,  124-       102,  136. 
25.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii, 


SAMUEL  MATHER,  Junior,  the  eldest  son  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Mather  (Yale  1756),  of  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  was 
born  on  December  13,  1764. 


360  Yale  College 

He  studied  law  in  Northampton,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  Hampshire  County  Bar  in  1786. 

He  then  began  practice  in  Westfield,  but  died  early,  on 
March  15,  1789,  in  his  25th  year.  His  father  adminis- 
tered on  his  estate,  as  he  was  unmarried. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 
Mather  Family  (1890),  139. 


LEMUEL  MEAD,  the  sixth  son  and  seventh  child  of 
Abram  and  Ruth  (Lyon)  Mead,  of  Greenwich,  Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  Elnathan  and  Sarah  (Lyon)  Mead, 
of  Greenwich,  was  born  on  April  i,  1763. 

He  became  a  physician  and  settled  in  Warren  County, 
New  York. 

He  died  in  Chester  in  that  county,  on  January  28,  1826, 
in  his  63d  year. 

He  married  Jerusha  Pool,  who  died  on  August  17,  1860, 
aged  78  years.  Their  children  were  five  daughters  and 
three  sons. 

,  AUTHORITIES. 
Mead  Family  Genealogy,  443-44. 


ELISHA  MUNSON,  eldest  son  of  Captain  Joseph  Munson, 
of  New  Haven,  and  grandson  of  Israel  and  Elizabeth 
(Bishop)  Munson,  was  born  in  New  Haven  in  April,  1761. 
His  mother  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Abigail 
(Attwater)  Bishop,  of  New  Haven,  and  a  first  cousin  of 
her  husband. 

He  spent  his  entire  life  in  New  Haven,  engaged  partly 
in  mercantile  pursuits  and  in  handling  real  estate  and 
partly  in  public  business. 

He  held  office  as  town-clerk  from  1801  to  his  resigna- 
tion in  1832,  and  as  city-clerk  from  1805  until  his  death. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  361 

Squire  Munson,  as  he  was  universally  called,  died  in 
New  Haven  on  August  30,  1841,  in  his  8ist  year.  He 
was  never  married,  but  lived  (after  his  father's  death  in 
1793)  with  his  five  maiden  sisters  in  the  old  family  resi- 
dence, on  the  southwest  corner  of  College  and  Wall 
Streets.  

AUTHORITIES. 
Munson  Record,  678,  684-86.    Tuttle  Family,  672. 


JABEZ  PECK,  third  son  of  Simeon  Peck,  of  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Joseph  and  Hannah  (Car- 
rier) Peck,  was  born  in  Norwich  on  October  18,  1761. 
His  mother  was  Ruth,  fourth  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Henry 
Willes  (Yale  1715),  of  Franklin,  then  part  of  Norwich. 
By  the  time  he  was  ready  for  College  his  father  had 
removed  to  Lebanon,  New  Hampshire;  and  he  conse- 
quently entered  Dartmouth  College  in  1780.  In  April, 
1783,  he  joined  the  Junior  class  in  Yale,  and  three  months 
later  he  was  received  into  the  College  Church  on  a  letter 
from  the  Church  in  Dartmouth  College. 

After  graduation  he  taught  school  in  East  Hampton, 
Long  Island,  and  was  later  a  teacher  of  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages  in  New  York  City.  He  died  in  New 
York,  after  a  short  indisposition,  on  October  4,  1791,  at 
the  age  of  30. 

He  married  in  1790  or  1791  Nancy  Rysam,  and  left 
issue.  _____ 

AUTHORITIES. 

Peck  Genealogy,  334.    Miss  E.  H.       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  66, 78. 
Shelton,  MS.  Letter,  Febr.  22,  1900. 


JONAS  PRENTICE,  Junior,  son  of  Colonel  Jonas  Prentice, 
of  Stonington,  Connecticut,  and  New  Haven,  was  born  in 
1767.  His  mother  was  Amie,  daughter  of  Captain  Jabez 
and  Amie  Smith,  of  Groton  and  New  Haven. 


362  Yale  College 

According  to  one  account  he  studied  law  and  began 
practice  in  Stamford,  Connecticut ;  but  this  is  doubtful. 

He  was  engaged  in  business  in  New  Haven  as  a  drug- 
gist for  some  time  prior  to  1795,  when  he  removed  to  New 
York  City.  After  two  or  three  years,  however,  he 
returned  to  New  Haven,  and  died  here  on  April  16,  1804, 
aged  36  years.  His  estate  was  insolvent. 

His  widow,  Rebecca,  died  in  New  London  on  December 
23,  1808,  aged  32  years. 


BENJAMIN  STRONG  ROE,  the  fourth  son  and  child  of 
Phillips  Roe,  a  merchant  and  farmer  at  Port  Jefferson, 
Long  Island,  and  grandson  of  Nathaniel  and  Elizabeth 
Roe,  was  born  on  February  7,  1763.  His  mother  was 
Submit,  second  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Susannah 
(Thompson,  Muncy)  Strong,  of  Setauket,  Long  Island. 

He  was  for  a  short  time  a  merchant  in  New  York  City, 
but  died  (by  his  own  hand)  in  Port  Jefferson,  on  May  28, 
1795,  in  his  33d  year. 

He  married  Sarah  Hudson,  of  Wading'  River,  in  River- 
head,  Long  Island,  and  had  by  her  one  daughter. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  611-12. 


JOHN  PUNDERSON  SEWARD,  the  second  child  of  the  Rev. 
William  Seward  (Yale  1734),  of  the  parish  of  North 
Killingworth,  now  the  town  of  Killingworth,  Connecticut, 
by  his  second  wife,  Mabel  Smith,  was  born  on  April  21, 

1765; 

His  mother  died  in  his  infancy.  He  entered  College  in 
April  of  the  Freshman  year;  and  his  father  died  in  the 
following  winter. 

He  was  a  person  of  exemplary  piety ;  and  was  admitted 
to  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his  faith  in  July 
of  his  Junior  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  363 

According  to  custom,  the  class  to  which  he  belonged 
completed  their  College  work  seven  weeks  before  Com- 
mencement, and  young  Seward,  like  many  others,  went 
home  to  have  his  graduation  suit  of  homespun  prepared; 
while  there  he  died,  it  is  said  of  scarlet  fever,  on  August 
26  (1784),  in  his  2Oth  year.  He  was  intending  to  study 
for  the  ministry. 

His  scholarship  was  excellent,  and  his  name  was 
enrolled  among  the  graduates. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.   Journal,    Sept.    I,    1784.     N.       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  530; 
E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,  Hi,  325.       iii,  81,   135-36. 


JARED  SPENCER,  the  fourth  son  of  Major  General  Joseph 
Spencer,  of  Millington  Parish,  in  East  Haddam,  Connec- 
ticut, and  a  nephew  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elihu  Spencer  (Yale 
1746),  was  born  on  July  5,  1762,  and  was  baptized  by  his 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Hobart  Estabrook  (Yale  1736),  on  the 
25th  of  the  same  month.  His  mother  was  Hannah 
Brown,  whose  first  husband  was  Captain  Daniel  South- 
mayd  (Yale  1741). 

After  graduation  he  prepared  himself  for  the  profession 
of  the  law,  which  he  practiced  in  his  native  town  until  his 
death. 

He  married  on  November  29,  1789,  Ann  (or  Nancy), 
youngest  daughter  of  Captain  James  and  Ruth  (Marshall) 
Green,  of  East  Haddam,  by  whom  he  had  five  children. 

Squire  Spencer  (as  he  was  called)  perished  in  a  snow- 
storm on  November  n,  1820,  in  his  59th  year.  Three 
daughters  and  one  son  survived  him. 

His  widow  died  on  November  n,  1855,  in  her  88th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,       E.  Haddam,  94,  123-24. 
128.     Niles,  Old  Chimney  Stacks  of 


364  Yale  College 

JOSEPH  STRONG,  the  second  child  and  eldest  son  of  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Strong  (Yale  1749),  of  Granby,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  Granby  on  April  7,  1756.  His  father  was 
dismissed  from  his  parish  in  Granby  in  November,  1779; 
and  the  son  was  living  in  Windsor,  Connecticut,  when  he 
was  admitted  to  College  in  May  of  the  Freshman  year, 
when  over  25  years  old.  In  the  following  December  his 
father  was  installed  in  Williamsburg,  Massachusetts.  He 
joined  the  College  Church  in  July  of  his  Junior  year. 

He  studied  theology  with  his  father  and  after  being 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hampshire  Association  on 
August  2,  1785,  performed  missionary  labor  in  Maine,  and 
in  1789-90  officiated  as  a  stated  supply  in  Southampton, 
Long  Island.  He  went  thence  to  Heath,  Massachusetts, 
where  a  Congregational  Church  had  been  organized  in 

1785.  Of  this  church  he  was  ordained  the  first  pastor  on 
October  27,  1790.     He  had  already  married,  on  May  20, 

1786,  Sophia,  youngest  child  of  the  Rev.  John  Wood- 
bridge  (Yale  1726),  of  South  Hadley,  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Strong  was  remarkably  conscientious  and  devoted 
to  his  work,  but  his  salary  was  small,  and  to  support  his 
family  he  was  obliged  to  cultivate  a  large  farm  in  addition 
to  his  regular  duties.  It  was  perhaps  owing  to  this  that 
his  people  became  dissatisfied  and  requested  his  resigna- 
tion, offering  him  $200  as  an  inducement.  He  was  accord- 
ingly dismissed  on  June  10,  1803,  and  left  the  town, 
driving  his  cattle  before  him,  with  his  wife  and  one  daugh- 
ter on  horseback,  and  the  other  children  and  goods  follow- 
ing in  a  wagon. 

They  found  an  asylum  with  Mrs.  Strong's  father  in 
South  Hadley,  while  Mr.  Strong  performed  a  mission  in 
Maine. 

In  April,  1806,  he  was  called  to  settle  over  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  Eastbury  Parish,  now  called  East 
Glastonbury,  Connecticut,  on  a  salary  of  $300,  and  was 
installed  there  soon  after.  He  continued  there  until 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  365 

August,  1817,  when  the  Society  voted  to  call  a  council  for 
his  dismission. 

He  then  resided  for  a  short  time  in  Belchertown,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  again  in  South  Hadley. 

In  1823  he  began  preaching  in  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Preble,  Cortland  County,  New  York,  but  while 
on  a  visit  to  his  second  son,  then  a  Professor  in  Hamilton 
College,  died  of  liver  complaint,  from  which  he  had  long 
suffered,  in  Clinton  on  December  19,  1823,  in  his  68th  year. 
His  widow  died  in  Clinton,  at  the  house  of  her  second 
daughter,  on  June  27,  1832,  in  her  7ist  year.  Their 
remains  were  removed  to  South  Hadley  some  years  later. 

Their  children  were  six  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
second,  third,  and  fourth  sons  were  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1812,  1815,  and  1819,  respectively, — the  eldest  of  these 
being  the  distinguished  Professor  Theodore  Strong;  the 
two  younger  sons  died  in  infancy.  The  eldest  daughter 
married  Dr.  Benjamin  Woolsey  Dwight  (Yale  1799) ; 
the  second  daughter  married  Professor  Charles  Avery 
(Hamilton  College  1820) ;  and  the  youngest  daughter 
married  Stephen  V.  R.  Bogert,  M.D.  (Fairfield  Medical 
School  1826). 

Mr.  Strong  was  a  man  of  great  tenderness  of  feeling, 
meekness,  and  modesty.  His  personal  piety  was 
undoubted,  and  he  had  a  peculiar  gift  of  sympathy  with 
those  in  trouble. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Chapin,  Glastonbury  Centennial,  Record,  55-56.  Packard,  Hist,  of 
135.  Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  356-  Churches  and  Ministers  in  Franklin 
62.  Holland,  Hist,  of  Western  County,  Mass.,  227-28.  Pres.  Stiles, 
Mass.,  i,  383.  Mitchell,  Woodbridge  Literary  Diary,  ii,  534;  iii,  81. 


JOHN  TAYLOR,  the  youngest  in  a  family  of  thirteen 
children  of  Eldad  Taylor,  of  Westneld,  Massachusetts, 
who  was  the  youngest  and  fourteenth  child  of  the  Rev. 
Edward  Taylor  (Harvard  1671),  was  born  in  Westfield 


366  Yale  College 

on  December  23,  1762.  He  was  thus  a  first  cousin  of 
President  Stiles.  His  mother  was  Thankful,  the  youngest 
child  of  John  and  Mary  (Smith)  Day,  of  Suffield,  Con- 
necticut. He  joined  the  College  Church  in  July  of  his 
Junior  year,  having  recently  passed  through  a  period  of 
intense  religious  feeling. 

He  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Noah  Atwater  (Yale 
1774),  of  Westfield,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Hampden  Association  of  Ministers  in  January,  1786. 

In  November,  1786,  he  received  a  call  to  settle  over  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  on  a 
salary  of  £100;  and  having  accepted  he  was  ordained  there 
on  February  14,  1787.  The  sermon  delivered  on  that 
occasion  by  the  Rev.  Noah  Atwater  (Yale  1774)  was 
afterwards  published.  He  married,  on  June  24,  1788, 
Elizabeth  Terry,  of  Enfield,  Connecticut,  a  sister  of 
Nathaniel  Terry  (Yale  1786). 

His  pastorate  was  successful,  and  in  1802  he  spent 
three  months  on  a  missionary  tour  in  western  New  York. 
It  was  probably  in  consequence  of  exposure  on  this  tour 
that  his  voice  failed  suddenly  in  1804.  After  a  struggle 
with  increasing  debility  for  two  years,  he  requested  a 
dismissal  on  June  9,  1806,  and  it  was  granted  by  an 
ecclesiastical  council  on  August  6. 

In  1807  he  settled  on  a  farm  in  his  wife's  native  town 
of  Enfield,  where  he  took  a  leading  position.  He  was  a 
representative  in  nine  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State  between  1808  and  1815. 

As  his  health  improved  he  preached  occasionally,  and 
in  1817  he  removed  to  Mendon,  Monroe  County,  New 
York,  where  he  supplied  the  pulpits  in  the  destitute  settle- 
ments in  the  vicinity,  and  was  an  efficient  agent  in  organiz- 
ing several  Congregational  Churches.  He  declined  an 
invitation  to  settle  in  Canandaigua. 

In  1832  he  removed  with  his  second  son  to  the  new 
Bruce  Township,  Macomb  County,  Michigan,  about  thirty- 
five  miles  north  of  Detroit,  where  he  ministered  for  the 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  367 

rest  of  his  life  to  a  small  Congregational  Church  of 
about  thirty  members.  His  mental  vigor  was  almost 
unimpaired,  and  he  took  extreme  interest  in  the  temper- 
ance and  anti-slavery  movements. 

He  died  in  Bruce,  from  the  effects  of  an  apoplectic 
stroke,  on  December  20,  1840,  aged  78  years.  His  widow 
died  in  Bruce  on  September  17,  1843,  at  tne  a§"e  °f  77- 

Their  children  were  five  daughters  and  six  sons,  of 
whom  the  four  youngest  (two  daughters  and  two  sons) 
died  in  infancy.  The  eldest  daughter  married  the  Rev. 
James  Taylor  (Williams  1804).  The  third  son  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1816. 

He  published  : 

1.  An  Oration,  delivered  on  the  Anniversary  of  Independence,  at 
Deer  field,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1796.     Greenfield,  1796.     sq.  8°, 
pp.  20. 

[A.  C.  A.     C.  H.  S.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

Y.  C. 

Strongly  Federalist  in  expression. 

2.  A  Sermon  [from  Deut.  xi,  12],  delivered  on  the  day  of  Pub- 
lic Thanksgiving,  at  Deerfield ; — Nov.  29,  '98.    Greenfield,     sq.  8°, 
pp.  19.  [A.  C.  A.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

\ 

3.  A  Century  Sermon  [from  Ps.  Ixxix,  1-3]  ;   preached  at  Deer- 
field,  February  29,  1804:   in  Commemoration  of  the  Destruction  of 
the  Town  of  Deerfield  by  the  French  and  Indians.    Greenfield,  1804. 
8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.A.S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S. 
U.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

An  interesting  and  valuable  historical  account. 

4.  A  Farewell  Sermon  [from  i  Cor.  xi,  2,  and  2  Cor.  xiii,  n]. 
Delivered  in  Deerfield,  at  the  time  of  his  dismissal,  August  6th,  1806, 
by  James  Taylor.     Greenfield,  1806.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.A.S.    Brown  Univ.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

On  account  of  the  author's  loss  of  voice,  this  sermon  was  read 
(as  intimated  on  the  title-page)  by  his  son-in-law. 

He  also  published,  in  the  Rev.  John  Williams's  Redeemed  Cap- 
tive returning  to  Zion,  4th  edition,  Greenfield,  1793 : — 


368  Yale  College 

Appendix ;  containing  some  account  of  the  mischief  done  by  the 
enemy  in  Deerfield,  and  its  vicinity,  from  the  death  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Williams,  to  the  conclusion  of  the  French  war. 

This  Appendix  was  reprinted  in  many  later  editions. 

And  in  Sermons  on  various  important  Doctrines  and  Duties  of  the 
Christian  Religion;  selected  from  the  Manuscripts  of  several  Min- 
isters, Members  of  the  Northern  Association,  in  the  County  of 
Hampshire.  Northampton,  1799: — 

Sermon  xvii.  Persuasives  to  an  Attendance  on  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per. From  Luke  xxii,  19.  pp.  273-87. 

Sermon  xxi.  Dissuasives  from  excessive  and  sinful  Diversions. 
From  Eccl.  ii,  I.  pp.  340-53. 

After  his  death  the  following  was  published : — 

Journal  of  a  Missionary  Tour  through  the  Mohawk  &  Black 
River  Counties  in  1802. 

In  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  vol.  3,  Albany,  1850. 
4°,  pp.  671-96. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,  Mass.,     131-36.    Sheldon,    Hist,     of 

80.       Chute    Genealogies,    ccviii-ccx.  Deerfield,    ii,    775-82,     (pt.    2)     335. 

Dwight  Family,  i,  366-68.     Hist,   of  Pres.   Stiles,  Literary  Diary,   iii,  75, 

Macomb  County,  Mich.  (1882),  763-  78,  251.     J.  T.  Terry,  Rev.  Edward 

64.    Hotchkin,  Hist,  of  Western  N.  Taylor,    21-23,'  76-79-        S.    Terry, 

Y.,  254.    Packard,  Hist,  of  Churches  Terry  Families,  35,  72. 
and    Ministers   in   Franklin   County, 


ANDREW  TUTTLE,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Hezekiah 
Tuttle,  of  New  Haven,  and  grandson  of  Captain  Andrew 
and  Eunice  (Sherman)  Tuttle,  was  born  in  New  Haven  on 
January  4,  1762.  His  mother  was  Martha,  daughter  of 
Abner  and  Abigail  (Gilbert)  Bradley,  of  New  Haven. 

He  spent  his  life  in  his  native  town,  where  he  was  in 
business  as  a  shopkeeper. 

He  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  in  New  Haven  on 
November  19,  1807,  aged  nearly  46  years. 

He  was  never  married. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Tuttle  Family,  169. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  369 

JAMES  WAKELEE  was  a  son  of  James  Wakelee,  who 
lived  in  that  part  of  Stratford  which  was  incorporated  as 
the  town  of  Huntington,  Connecticut,  in  1789. 

A  James  Wakelee  was  married  to  Ameritta  Patterson 
by  the  rector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Huntington  on 
July  6,  1788;  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  this  was  the 
graduate. 

The  graduate  was  living  at  the  distribution  of  his 
father's  estate  in  February,  1801,  but  is  marked  as  dead  in 
the  Triennial  Catalogue  of  Graduates  issued  in  the  fall  of 
1802. 


ROSWELL  WELLES,  a  son  of  Captain  Jonathan  Welles 
(Yale  1751),  was  born  in  Glastonbury,  Connecticut,  on 
August  20,  1761.  His  mother  was  a  sister  of  Roswell 
Saltonstall  (Yale  1751). 

He  studied  law,  and  settled  in  1786  in  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the  Luzerne 
County  bar  at  the  organization  of  that  County  on  May  27, 
1787.  He  practiced  his  profession  with  credit,  and  on 
April  26,  1793,  was  appointed  one  of  the  associate  Judges 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  County.  About 
1800  he  commanded  a  regiment  of  State  Militia. 

He  also  represented  Luzerne  County  in  the  State  Legis- 
lature in  1797-98,  1802,  and  1804-06. 

He  died  in  Wilkes-Barre  on  March  19,  1830,  in  his  69th 
year. 

He  married  in  Wilkes-Barre,  in  1788,  Hannah,  only 
daughter  of  Colonel  Zebulon  and  Anna  (Lord)  Butler,  of 
Lyme,  Connecticut,  born  February  28,  1770.  In  her 
childhood  her  father  removed  to  Wilkes-Barre. 

Their  children  were  one  son  and  one  daughter. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

Chapin,     Glastonbury     Centennial,       Valley,  i,   119;  iii,   1050.     Walworth, 
217.     Kulp,    Families    of    Wyoming       Hyde  Genealogy,  ii,  767-68. 
24 


37°  Yale  College 

DEODAT  WILDMAN,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Wild- 
man  (Yale  1758),  was  probably  born  in  1761. 

After  graduation  he  returned  to  his  father's  parish  of 
Southbury,  Connecticut,  and  studied  law. 

He  married  on  February  6,  1785,  Phebe,  second  daugh- 
ter of  Amos  and  Phebe  (Curtiss)  Hicock,  of  Southbury. 

He  died  in  Southbury  on  January  16,  1787,  aged  25 
years. 

,  AUTHORITIES. 

Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  566 ;       Diary,  ii,  452. 
iii,   484,   513.    Pres.   Stiles,   Literary 


,HEZEKIAH  NORTH  WOODRUFF  was  born  in  Farming- 
ton,  Connecticut,  in  1763,  the  eldest  son  of  Timothy 
Woodruff,  and  of  Lucy  Treadwell,  a  sister  of  Governor 
John  Treadwell  (Yale  1767).  A  younger  brother  was 
graduated  here  in  1797. 

In  early  life  he  studied  medicine,  and  began  practice  in 
New  Jersey;  but  he  there  met  with  a  change,  which  led 
him  to  seek  a  College  education,  with  the  sole  view  of 
entering  the  ministry. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  New  London  Association  early  in  1789. 
In  March- April,  1789,  he  was  called  by  unanimous  votes 
of  the  First  Congregational  Church  and  Society  in  Ston- 
ington,  Connecticut,  to  be  their  pastor,  with  a  salary  of 
£100.  He  accepted  the  call,  and  was  ordained  there  on 
July  2.  The  sermon  on  that  occasion,  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Nathan  Perkins,  of  West  Hartford,  was  afterwards 
published. 

He  continued  to  labor  with  this  people  very  acceptably 
for  fourteen  years,  until  dismissed  by  a  mutual  council  in 
June,  1803.  During  his  pastorate  fifty-two  persons  were 
admitted  to  the  church. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  371 

He  removed  immediately  to  Central  New  York,  settling 
at  first  in  Aurora,  then  part  of  Scipio,  in  Cayuga  County, 
and  being  installed  soon  after  as  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian.  Church  in  Scipio.  He  was  dismissed  from  this 
charge  on  June  2,  1813.  Three  weeks  -later,  on  June  22, 
he  was  settled  in  Auburn,  in  the  same  county,  as  pastor  of 
a  newly  organized  Congregational  Church,  which  in 
August,  1814,  became  by  unanimous  vote  Presbyterian. 

He  was  dismissed  from  Auburn  in  August,  1816,  and  in 
less  than  a  year  was  installed  over  the  two  churches  in 
Herkimer  and  Little  Falls,  in  Herkimer  County.  In 
1822-23  he  was  settled  in  Manlius,  in  Onondaga  County. 

He  died  at  Oneida  Castle,  Oneida  County,  New  York, 
on  August  n,  1833,  in  his  7ist  year. 

He  married  before  his  ordination  Sarah,  widow  of 
Jonathan  Alden,  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  by  whom  he 
had  several  children.  After  about  five  years  of  pro- 
tracted illness,  she  went  in  the  summer  of  1803  for  a  visit 
to  a  daughter  by  her  first  marriage,  the  wife  of  Mr. 
Woodruff's  brother,  who  was  settled  in  Coventry,  Connec- 
ticut. She  died  there,  while  her  husband  was  absent,  on 
September  14,  in  her  47th  year.  One  son  became  a  clergy- 
man and  subsequently  a  lawyer. 

He  published: 

1.  The  Life  and  Character  of  a  Gospel  Minister,  delineated  in  a 
Sermon  [from  I  Tim.  iv,  16]  preached  in  Boston,  at  the  Ordination 
of  the  Rev.  Clark  Brown,  pastor  over  the  Christian  Church  and 
Society  in  Machias.     Boston,  1795.     8°,  pp.  31. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 

2.  A  Sermon   [from  Deut.  xxxiv,  5,  8,  10],  occasioned  by  the 
Death  of  Gen.  George  Washington.    . .     Preached  December  29, 
1799.     Stonington-Port,  1800.     8°,  pp.  16. 

[C.  H.  S.     M.  H.  S.     U.  S. 

3.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Tim.  i,  7],  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of 
the  Rev.  Ephraim  T.  Woodruff  .  .  in  North  Coventry.    On  the  8th 
of  April,  1801.     Hartford,  1801.    8°,  pp.  23. 

.[A.  C.  A.     C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 


37 2  Yale  College 

4.  The  danger  of  ambition  considered,  in  a  Sermon  [from  2  Sam. 
iii,  34],  preached  at  Scipio,  N.  Y.,  Lord's  Day,  August  12,  1804; 
occasioned    by    the    Death    of    General    Alexander    Hamilton    . . 
Albany,  1804.    8°,  pp.  23.  [C.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

5.  A  Sermon  [from  Acts  xxvi,  18],  preached  at  Scipio,  N.  Y.,  at 
the  Execution  of  John  Delaware,  a  native;    for  the  Murder  of 
Ezekiel  Crane.     August  17,  1804.     Albany,  1804.     8°,  pp.  22. 

[C.  H.  S.     U.  S. 

6.  The  Change,  and  Perpetual  Obligation  of  the  Sabbath,  con- 
sidered, in  a  Sermon  [from  Ex.  xx,  8-10],  delivered  at  Sempronius, 
before  the  Presbytery  of  Cayuga,  at  the  opening  of  their  meeting, 
March,  1811,  and  published  at  their  request.     Auburn,  1813.     8°, 
pp.  27.  [C.  H.  S. 

7.  The   First  Annual   Report  of   the   Herkimer   Bible   Society; 
together  with  Discourse  [from  Rom.  x,  18]  delivered  by  their  Presi- 
dent, at  the  Annual  Meeting,  Feb.  10,  1818,  and  an  Address  of  their 
Committee,  to  the  public.     Herkimer,  1818.     8°,  pp.  20. 

[A.  C.  A. 

The  whole  pamphlet  was  presumably  prepared  by  Mr.  Woodruff, 
who  was  the  President  of  the  Society. 

8.  A  Sermon  [from  Haggai  i,  8,  &  ii,  9]  preached  at  the  Dedi- 
cation of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  Little-Falls,  Herkimer:   June 
4,  1818.    Herkimer,  1818.    8°,  pp.  19.       [A.  C.  A.    Brown  Univ. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Evangelical  Magazine,  vii,  52.  Sprague,  Annals  of  The  Amer. 
137-41.  Fowler,  Hist,  of  the  Church  Pulpit,  ii,  485.  Wheeler,  Hist,  of 
of  Christ  in  Auburn,  5-6.  Hotchkin,  First  Church,  Stonington,  77-78,  96, 
Hist,  of  Western  N.  Y.,  80,  345,  351-  260-61. 


AARON  WOOLWORTH,  the  eldest  child  of  Richard  Wool- 
worth,  of  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts,  by  his  second 
wife,  Lois,  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (Merrick) 
Colton,  of  Longmeadow,  was  born  on  October  25,  1763. 
His  father,  the  son  of  Richard  and  Elizabeth  (Hall) 
Woolworth,  of  Suffield,  Connecticut,  was  a  small  farmer 
and  shoemaker.  The  son  was  admitted  to  the  College 
Church  on  profession  of  faith  in  August  of  his  Junior 
year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1784  373 

After  graduation  he  taught  for  a  short  time  in  Enfield, 
Connecticut;  after  which  he  studied  theology  with  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Levi  Hart,  of  Preston.  He  was  licensed  by  the 
Eastern  Association  of  New  London  County  in  1785,  and 
after  preaching  for  a  short  time  in  Easthampton,  Massa- 
chusetts, he  went  to  Long  Island  in  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1787,  and  soon  began  preaching  as  a  candidate  in 
Bridgehampton.  That  church  had  been  for  twelve  years 
without  a  pastor,  and  was  then  in  a  distracted  state;  but 
he  gave  such  satisfaction  that  a  settlement  was  unani- 
mously offered  him  in  April,  and  he  was  ordained  and 
installed  on  August  30,  1787.  The  sermon  on  that  occa- 
sion by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Buell  (Yale  1741)  was  after- 
wards published.  The  church  was  then  Congregational  in 
its  organization,  but  decided  for  Presbyterianism  in  1794. 

Several  powerful  revivals  of  religion  occurred  under  his 
ministry,  particularly  one  in  the  year  1800.  In  1809  he 
received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from 
Princeton  College. 

Dr.  Woolworth  was  a  man  of  great  intellectual  activity 
and  untiring  industry,  and  his  hold  on  the  affection  and 
esteem  of  his  people  was  very  strong.  He  also  found 
time  to  receive  many  young  men  for  instruction,  both  in 
classics  and  in  theology. 

Though  his  constitution  was  not  vigorous,  his  health 
was  generally  good  and  he  was  able  to  carry  on  his  work 
until  the  last.  He  preached  with  unusual  fervor  and 
tenderness  on  March  25,  1821,  though  laboring  under  a 
severe  cold,  which  developed  into  a  typhoid  affection  of 
the  lungs,  from  which  he  died  the  next  week,  on  April  2, 
in  his  58th  year.  A  Sermon  occasioned  by  his  death, 
preached  by  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Phillips,  of  East  Hampton, 
was  afterwards  printed. 

He  married,  on  August  27,  1788,  Mary,  fifth  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Buell  (Yale  1741),  of  East  Hamp- 
ton, Long  Island,  and  had  by  her  four  daughters  and 
three  sons.  The  elder  surviving  son  was  graduated  at 


374  Yale  College 

Hamilton  College  in  1822.  Mrs.  Woolworth  died  at  his 
residence  in  Homer,  New  York,  on  September  10,  1846, 
aged  nearly  77  years.  The  eldest  daughter  married  the 
Rev.  James  H.  Mills  (Williams  Coll.  1814),  and  the  third 
daughter  married  the  Rev.  Herman  Halsey  (Williams 
1811). 

A  letter  by  him,  giving  some  account  of  a  Revival  of 
Religion  in  Bridgehampton  in  1799-1800,  was  published  in 
the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine,  volume  I,  for 
December  1800,  pp.  214-16. 

He  also  contributed  to  the  next  volume  of  the  same 
work,  for  October-November,  1801,  Sketches  of  the  life 
and  death  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Buell,  D.D.,  pp.  147-51, 
179-82. 

,  AUTHORITIES. 

Hedges,  Bi-centennial  Address  at  Stiles,      Literary      Diary,      iii,      82. 

Bridge-Hampton    (1886),   10-12,   iii-  Thompson,  Hist,  of  L.  I.,  2d  ed.,  i, 

iv.    Longmeadow     Centennial,     Ap-  344-45.      Welles,    Buell    Family,    61, 

pendix,  96-97.    Prime,  Hist,  of  L.  1.,  in.    Woolworth  Genealogy,  41,  65- 

201-02.    Sprague,     Annals     of     the  66. 
Amer.     Pulpit,     iii,     468-72.     Pres. 


Annals,  1784-85  375 


Annals,   1784-85 


The  College  year  was  uneventful. 

At  the  time  of  Commencement,  1785,  the  Episcopal 
clergy  of  the  State  were  holding  a  convocation;  and  the 
biographer  of  Bishop  Seabury  (Yale  1748)  preserves  a 
tradition  of  his  attendance  at  Commencement  and  of  Pres- 
ident Stiles's  unwillingness  to  distinguish  him  by  special 
honor. 

The  number  of  the  graduating  class  at  its  entrance  in 
1781  had  been  small,  owing  mainly  to  the  favorable  busi- 
ness opportunities  which  arose  at  the  close  of  the  war ;  but 
by  the  time  of  graduation  it  had  risen  to  seventy — a  num- 
ber which  was  not  exceeded  by  any  graduating  class  until 
1814. 

The  College  records  preserve  the  following  memo- 
randum of  the  expense  of  the  dinner  furnished  on 
Commencement  Day : 

A  List  of  Articles  used  in  Commencement  Dinner,  Sept.  14,  1785 

140  Ib.  Flour  @  2d  % , £1.  6.  3 

67  Ib.  Fresh  Pork  @  4d I.  2.  4 

ioy2  Ib.  Lamb  @  4d 3.  6 

20  Ib.  Butter  @  lod 16.  8 

2  doz.  Fowls  @  IDS i. 

20  Ib.  Salt  pork — 8d 13.  4 

5  Bushlls.  Apples — y$  7.  6 

i  Bushll  beats 4. 

Cabbage    5- 

Potatoes    •• 3. 

Spices    6. 

Pepper  ^        Salt  2/ 4.  3 

Vinegar  ^         Pickles  3/ — 4.  6 

Hogslard,  10  Ib.  6/ —        2  Load  Wood  i8/ — i.  4. 

i  Ib.  Candles  lid        Soap  2/ — 2.11 

i  Woman  3  Days  @  3/ — 9. 


376  Yale  College 

1  do.  2l/2  Days  to  Scour  3/6 8.  9 

2  Men  6  Days  each  @  4/ — 2.  8. 

i  Barrell  Cyder   8. 

6  Gallns  old  do 6. 

12  Ib.  Cheese  6d    6. 

no  Ib.  Beef  @  3^d 1.12.  i 

Use  of  Platters,  plates,  Table  Cloths,  &c.    ) 

Sundry  small  things f 

To  my  Time  &  Trouble  in  preparing 3.10. 


19.11.  i 

Erros  Excepted    Jeremiah  Atwater  Steward 


Sketches,   Class  of  1785 


*Samuel  Jacobus  Andrews 

*Jeremias  Mix  Atwater,  A.M.  "1832 

*Josephus  Badger  *  184.6 

*David  Ludovicus  Beebe,  A.M.  1789  *i8c>3 

*Guilielmus  Pitt  Beers  *i8io 

*David  Belden,  1787  "1832 

*Ebenezer  Belknap  *i842 
*Barnabas   Bidwell,   A.M.   et  Guil.    1797,   LL.D. 

Brun.  1805,  Tutor,  e  Congr.,  Reip.  Mass.  Reb. 

Judic.  Praefect.  *i833 

*Tillotson  Blakesley  *i8i  - 

*Solomon  Blakslee  *I835 

*Petrus  Bulkley  *i8o8 

*Fredericus  Butler,  A.M.  "1843 

*Caleb  Clap  ^1787 

*Abrahamus  Lynsen  Clarke,  A.M.  1791  *i8io 

*  Jacobus  Bayne  Clarke  *i842 
*Enos  Cooke 

*  Johannes  Devotion  *i8io 
*Abrahamus  VanHorn  DeWitt  *i82O 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  377 

* Johannes  Dean  Dickinson,  e  Congr.  *i84i 

*Josephus  Drake  *I794 

*Rogerus  Eells,  A.M.  *i?9O 

* Johannes  Ellsworth  *I79I 

*Richardus  Ely,  M.D.  Soc.  Med.  Conn.  1814  *i8i6 

*Reuben  Fairchild  "1788 

*Simeon  Field,  M.D.  1817  "1822 

*Abel  Flint,  A.M.  et  Brim.,  S.T.D.  Cone.  1818          "1825 
*Hezekias  Goodrich,  A.M.  1792  *i8i2 

*Russell  Goodrich,  A.M.  "1837 

*Guilielmus  Graves,  A.M.  1801  "1813 

*Pearleius  Grosvenor  *i-7&7 

*Levi  Hackley,  1786  "1786 

*David  Hale,  A.M.  "1822 

*Josua  Henshaw  *i84<D 

* David  Hi g gins,  A.M.  *i842 

*Dyar  Throop  Hinckley  "1847 

*Guilielmus  Hubbard,  A.M. 
*Guilielmus  Gold  Hubbard 
*David  Hull  *i834 

*Enochus  Huntington,  A.M.  *i826 

*Samuel  Huntington,  et  Dartm.  1785,  A.M.,  Reip. 

Ohion.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  Princ.  et.  Gubernator       "1817 
*Isaacus  Ives  • 

*Caleb  Johnson,  A.M.  1791 
*Henricus  Sherburne  Langdon,  A.M. 
^Jonathan  Leavitt,  A.M. 
*Micha  Jones  Lyman  *i85i 

*Johannes  McClellan  "1858 

*Matthaeus  Marvin 
*Carolus  Mather 
*Return   Jonathan   Meigs,    Reipubl.    Ohion.    Cur. 

Supr.  Jurid.  Princ.  et  Gubern.,  Rerumpubl.  Foed. 

Cur.  in  Jurisd.  Mich.  Jurid.  et  Sen.  et  Rei  Vered. 

Curator  Summus  ""1825 

*Phineas  Miller,  A.M.  *i8c>3 

*Daniel  Nash 
*Rogerus  Newton,  A.M.,  Tutor 


378  Yale  College 

*Matthaeus  Noyes,  A.M.,  Socius  *l&39 

*Zacharias  Olmsted,  A.M.  *i8si 

^Benjamin  Perkins  *i84i 

*Samuel  Perkins,  A.M.  *i85o 
*Timotheus  Pitkin,  A.M.,  LL.D.  1829,  e  Congr.        "1847 

*Nathanael  Rossiter  *I&35 

*Elihu  Platt  Smith  "1795 

*  Robertas  Spelman  "1803 

^Thomas  Stedman  *i838 

*Guilielmus  Taylor,  A.M.  *i84i 

*Abrahamus  Tomlinson  *i82o 

*Thomas  Tousey  *i84O 

*Decius  Wadsworth,  A.M.  *i82i 
*Guilielmus  Wheeler 
*Ezekiel  Williams,  A.M. 
*Timotheus  Williams,  A.M.  1799 

*Gideon  Woodruff  *i847 

*Joel  Wright  *i797 


SAMUEL  JAMES  ANDREWS,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Andrews  (Yale  1759),  was  born  in  Wallingford, 
Connecticut,  on  February  16,  1766.  His  father's  useful 
ministry  in  the  Episcopal  parish  in  Wallingford  was  inter- 
rupted during  the  Revolution  by  his  loyalty  to  the  crown, 
and  this  probably  hampered  the  son's  course  in  College. 
His  account-book,  still  preserved,  shows  that  he  supported 
himself  on  an  annual  allowance  of  £25. 

Just  after  his  graduation  the  rest  of  the  family  removed 
to  New  Brunswick,  and  he  took  up  the  life  of  a  shipping- 
merchant  in  Derby,  Connecticut,  and  married,  in  1795, 
Damaris,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Damaris  (Atwater) 
Tyler,  of  Wallingford. 

He  was  eminently  successful  as  a  West-India  trader, 
and  held  a  prominent  position  in  Derby,  where  he  was 
Postmaster  by  appointment  of  President  Madison. 

He  was,  however,  well  nigh  ruined  by  the  Embargo 
which  preceded  the  War  of  1812,  with  the  result  that  after 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  379 

severe  losses  his  property  was  substantially  reduced  to  two 
vessels  engaged  in  the  West  India  trade;  and  when  the 
last  of  these  was  captured  by  the  British  blockaders  off 
New  Haven  harbor,  he  had  little  remaining  except  a  large 
tract  of  land  at  the  Falls  of  the  Genesee,  in  Western  New 
York,  which  he  had  purchased  in  1812,  on  a  visit  to  that 
region,  in  connection  with  his  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Moses 
Atwater  (Yale  1787). 

Under  these  circumstances  he  made  up  his  mind  in  1815 
to  remove  with  his  family  to  his  Western  lands,  which 
were  within  the  limits  of  the  new  village  of  Rochester, 
where  he  found  only  two  families  already  settled. 

He  brought  with  him  a  stock  of  goods  for  trade,  and 
in  1816  began  to  erect  mills  at  the  Falls,  and  also  built  a 
bridge  across  the  Genesee  River  and  a  schoolhouse.  In 
the  succeeding  years  he  laid  out  a  large  part  of  the  present 
city,  and  aided  in  the  establishment  and  promotion  of 
many  of  its  religious  and  social  institutions.  He  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  the  first  Episcopal 
Church  in  Rochester,  in  1817,  as  also  subsequently  in  1827 
of  St.  Paul's,  the  second  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  the 
stone  for  the  building  was  a  gift  from  him. 

He  built  for  himself  a  substantial  stone  house  (the  first 
structure,  other  than  wood,  in  Rochester),  which  is  now 
occupied  by  a  grandson. 

He  died  in  Rochester  on  January  12,  1832,  aged  66 
years. 

His  wife  long  survived  him,  dying  in  Rochester  on 
September  18,  1855,  in  her  87th  year.  A  brass  tablet  with 
an  appropriate  inscription  to  their  memory  in  Latin,  is 
erected  in  St.  Andrew's  Church  in  that  city. 

Five  of  their  six  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters, 
survived  the  father.  James  Andrews  Swan  (Yale  1867) 
is  a  grandson. 

AUTHORITIES. 

J.  Sherlock  Andrews,  MS.  Letter,  Phelps  and  Gorham's  Purchase,  600. 
Dec.  2,  1906.  Turner,  Hist,  of 


380  Yale  College 

JEREMIAH  [Mix]  ATWATER,  the  second  son  and  fifth 
child  of  Jeremiah  Atwater,  of  New  Haven,  for  many 
years  the  College  Steward,  and  grandson  of  Jonathan  and 
Martha  (Bradley)  Atwater,  was  born  in  New  Haven  on 
February  15,  1767.  His  mother  was  Anna,  daughter  of 
Nathaniel  and  Rebecca  (Lines)  Mix,  of  New  Haven.  He 
assumed  a  middle  name  after  graduation. 

/His  life  was  spent  in  New  Haven,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  business.  He  was  usually  called  "Major 
Jerry"  Atwater,  from  his  rank  in  the  militia. 

He  married,  on  February  3,  1789,  Elizabeth,  youngest 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Naphtali  Daggett  (Yale  1748), 
who  died  on  May  20,  1790,  aged  21  years. 

He  next  married,  on  February  15,  1793,  Mary,  daughter 
of  Richard  and  Hannah  (Howell)  Cutler,  who  long  sur- 
vived him,  dying  on  November  8,  1861,  aged  91^2  years. 

By  his  second  marriage  he  had  one  son  and  seven 
daughters. 

He  died  in  New  Haven  on  February  27,  1832,  aged  65 
years. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Atwater  History,  137,  182-83.    Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  i,  18. 


JOSEPH  BADGER  was  born  in  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts, 
on  February  28,  1757,  the  son  of  poor  but  pious  parents, 
Henry  and  Mary  (Langdon)  Badger,  and  grandson 
of  Nathaniel  and  Mary  (Lunt)  Badger,  of  Norwich  West 
Farms,  now  Franklin,  Connecticut.  In  1766  the  family 
removed  to  Partridgefield,  now  Peru,  in  Berkshire  County, 
about  forty  miles  to  the  northwest  of  Wilbraham. 

In  the  Spring  of  1775  he  entered  the  Revolutionary 
army;  he  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and 
was  afterwards  with  General  Arnold  in  Canada.  He  was 
discharged  in  the  Spring  of-  1777,  but  soon  enlisted  again 
for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  77^5  381 

In  February,  1778,  he  went  to  New  Preston  Society,  in 
Washington,  Connecticut,  to  work  at  weaving,  and  in  the 
fall  became  a  boarder  in  the  family  of  the  clergyman  of 
the  parish,  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Day  (Yale  1756),  and 
pursued  elementary  studies.  In  1779  he  experienced  a 
new  interest  in  religion,  and  united  with  the  church. 

He  now  gave  up  his  previous  intention  of  returning  to 
the  army,  and  determined  to  prepare  for  the  ministry. 
He  supported  himself  in  the  meantime  by  teaching,  and 
was  able  to  enter  College  at  Commencement  in  1781. 
While  here  also  he  earned  money  by  teaching,  and  in  his 
Junior  year  by  constructing  a  Planetarium  for  the  College. 
In  October,  .1784,  during  the  fall  vacation,  he  married  Lois 
Noble,  of  Kent,  Connecticut,  whom  he  had  known  in  New 
Preston,  she  being  the  youngest  sister  of  Mrs.  Day. 

During  the  year  after  graduation  he  kept  a  school  in 
Waterbury,  Connecticut,  and  studied  divinity  under  the 
direction  of  the  Rev.  Mark  Leavenworth.  He  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  East  Association  of 
Ministers  in  October,  1786,  and  for  a  few  months  supplied 
the  pulpit  in  Northbury  Society,  now  Plymouth,  Con- 
necticut. 

In  the  Spring  of  1787  he  set  out  for  Vermont;  but 
stopped  in  Blandford,  Massachusetts,  and  preached  there, 
until  he  received  a  nearly  unanimous  call  to  the  pastorate, 
on  a  salary  of  three  hundred  dollars.  He  accepted  the 
call,  and  was  ordained  there  on  October  24. 

After  a  few  years  he  found  that  his  support  was 
inadequate;  and  as  ill-feeling  was  aroused  by  his  com- 
plaints, he  finally  deemed  his  usefulness  at  an  end  and 
resolved  to  go  elsewhere. 

He  was  dismissed  by  a  council  on  October  24,  1800,  and 
three  weeks  later  set  out,  under  the  appointment  of  the 
Connecticut  Missionary  Society  (of  which  his  classmate 
Flint  was  the  Secretary),  as  a  missionary  to  the  Western 
Reserve  of  Ohio.  After  visiting  every  family  on  the 
Reserve  he  returned  to  Blandford  on  January  I,  1802. 


382  Yale  College 

Having  found  an  open  door  for  extensive  ministerial 
usefulness,  he  now  decided  to  remove  with  his  wife  and 
six  children  to  the  Reserve,  and  set  out  in  February. 
They  reached  Austinburg  late  in  April,  and  there  estab- 
lished a  new  home.  Though  a  Congregationalist  by 
conviction  Mr.  Badger  now  joined  the  Ohio  Presbytery, 
as  the  only  organization  with  which  he  could  unite.  His 
missionary  life  was  extremely  laborious,  and  after  the 
Connecticut  Society  felt  obliged  to  reduce  his  stipend  (from 
seven  to  six  dollars  a  week),  he  regretfully  resigned  his 
appointment  (in  January,  1806),  and  accepted  one  from 
the  Western  Missionary  Society,  located  at  Pittsburgh. 
Under  their  direction  he  labored  among  the  Wyandotte 
Indians,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sandusky,  Ohio,  for  some 
three  or  four  years. 

In  April,  1810,  he  removed  his  residence  a  few  miles 
northwards  to  Ashtabula,  and  spent  half  his  time  in 
preaching  to  the  church  in  that  town,  and  the  rest  in 
missionary  labor  in  the  vicinity  under  the  direction  of  the 
Massachusetts  Missionary  Society. 

When  the  War  of  1812  broke  out,  his  knowledge  of  the 
territory  was  considered  of  value,  and  in  order  to  secure 
his  services  General  Harrison  appointed  him  Brigade 
Chaplain  and  Postmaster,  and  he  remained  with  the  army 
for  six  months. 

After  the  war  he  continued  preaching,  with  a  very 
scanty  support  from  the  people.  His  wife  died  suddenly, 
after  a  few  days'  illness,  on  August  4,  1818,  in  her  64th 
year. 

In  the  following  February,  at  the  suggestion  of  friends, 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Miss  Abigail  Ely,  of  North 
Wilbraham,  Massachusetts,  who  was  then  visiting  her 
sisters  in  Salem,  Ohio;  and  as  the  result  they  were 
married  on  April  13,  1819. 

In  the  Spring  of  1822  he  removed  to  Kirtland,  where 
and  in  Chester  he  preached  alternately  for  four  years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  383 

In  1826  he  was  placed  on  the  pension  roll  as  a  Revolu- 
tionary soldier,  and  from  that  time  received  eight  dollars 
a  month  from  the  government. 

In  the  Spring  of  1826,  in  compliance  with  an  invitation 
from  the  people  of  Gustavus,  in  Trumbull  County,  he 
removed  to  that  place,  formed  a  Congregational  Church 
of  twenty-seven  members,  and  was  installed  pastor  of  that 
Society  by  the  Grand  River  Presbytery  in  October  follow- 
ing. Here  he  preached  for  eight  years  with  measurable 
success,  until  his  lungs  and  voice  began  to  fail  and  his 
general  health  to  be  somewhat  impaired.  He  then  pro- 
posed to  give  up  his  charge,  but  at  the  request  of  his 
people  remained  with  them  until  a  successor  was  agreed 
upon.  His  dismission  took  effect  on  June  26,  1835,  and 
in  the  following  October  he  removed  to  the  house  of  his 
only  surviving  daughter,  in  Plain,  Wood  County. 

He  partially  recovered  the  use  of  his  voice,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  preach  in  the  destitute  settlements  in  that  neighbor- 
hood. 

In  the  winter  of  1844  he  removed  to  Perrysburg,  in 
the  same  vicinity,  to  live  with  a  married  granddaughter. 
He  was  soon  for  the  most  part  confined  to  his  room,  and 
died  there,  on  April  5,  1846,  in  his  QOth  year.  His  wife 
survived  him  about  six  months. 

His  children,  by  his  first  marriage,  were  three  sons  and 
four  daughters.  Two  children  only  survived  him. 

The  testimony  of  one  who  remembered  him  well  is: — 

In  personal  appearance  he  was  tall,  slim,  erect,  had  blue  eyes, 
brown  hair,  and  a  pleasing  expression  of  face.  In  temperament 
and  action  he  was  quick  and  somewhat  impulsive,  yet  he  was  con- 
siderate &  slow  of  utterance,  rarely,  if  ever,  uttering  an  imprudent 
word.  In  his  social  intercourse  he  was  sedate  or  facetious  as  the 
occasion  seemed  to  require.  He  enjoyed  hearing  and  telling 
amusing  anecdotes.  In  his  style  of  preaching  he  was  apostolic, 
plain,  simple  and  logical.  He  had  but  one  grand  aim  in  life,  & 
that  was  to  do  what  he  could  to  advance  the  moral  and  spiritual 
welfare  of  mankind. 


3^4  Yale  College 

A  sketch  of  his  life,  contained  in  a  letter  from  him  to 
a  friend,  dated  in  June,  1840,  was  published  in  the 
American  Quarterly  Register  for  February,  1841  (pp. 
317-28). 

After  his  death  a  great-nephew  of  his  wife,  Professor 
Henry  N.  Day  (Yale  1828),  published  the  following:— 

A  Memoir  of  Rev.  Joseph  Badger ;  containing  an  Autobiography, 
and  Selections  from  his  Private  Journal  and  Correspondence. 
Hudson,  Ohio,  1851.  12°,  pp.  185  -j-  plate. 

The  volume  is  mainly  of  Mr.  Badger's  own  composition;  it  also 
contains  an  engraving  from  his  portrait. 

Interesting  extracts  from  his  correspondence  with  the 
Connecticut  Missionary  Society,  while  in  their  employ, 
were  published  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine. 

Two  letters  of  reminiscences,  written  by  him  in  1843,  are 
published  in  The  American  Pioneer,  edited  by  J.  S. 
Williams,  Cincinnati,  1843,  vol.  2,  pp.  275-78,  374-76. 


AUTHORITIES. 

American  Quarterly  Register,  xiii,  Centennial   ed.,   iii,   345.    Keep,   Dis- 

317-28.     Boltwood,  Noble  Genealogy,  course     at     Blandford,     13,     21-22. 

47,    66-67.       Conn.     Daily    Courant,  Kennedy,     Plan     of     Union,     18-23. 

April    21,    1846.      Conn.    Evangelical  Magazine    of    Western    History,    i, 

Magazine,  i,  239,  358-59;   ii,  118;    iii,  432-43.      Sprague,     Annals     of     the 

304-05,  317-20;    iv,   113-18,  331;    vi,  Amer.  Pulpit,  iii,  473-79.      Stebbins, 

288;     2d    series,    ii,    154-56.     Eaton,  Hist.    Address    at    Wilbraham,    269. 

Hist,    of    Erie    Presbytery,    218-30.  Pres.   Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  88, 

Howe,    Hist.    Collections    of    Ohio,  113,  287. 


DAVID  LEWIS  BEEBE,  the  younger  son  of  the  Rev.  James 
Beebe  (Yale  1745),  of  Unity  Parish,  now  Trumbull, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Trumbull  on  January  16,  1763. 
His  father  died  the  week  before  his  graduation. 

He  studied  theology,  but  it  was  not  until  February  23, 
1791,  that  he  was  ordained  as  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Woodbridge,  Connecticut.  The  sermon 
preached  on  this  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Izrahiah  Wetmore 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  385 

(Yale  1748),  the  successor  in  his  father's  pulpit,  was  after- 
wards published. 

On  February  29,  1792,  he  married  Mary  (or  Polly), 
second  daughter  of  Caleb  and  Abigail  (Jones)  Atwater, 
of  Wallingford,  Connecticut. 

He  labored  acceptably  and  successfully  in  Woodbridge 
for  nine  years,  but  was  dismissed  on  account  of  ill  health 
on  March  18,  1800. 

He  then  removed  to  Wallingford;  but  soon  after  went 
into  mercantile  business  in  Catskill,  New  York,  where  he 
died  on  June  3,  1803,  in  his  41  st  year. 

His  widow  died  in  Wallingford  in  1845,  a^  the  age  of 
76.  Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  two  sons. 
A  granddaughter  married  the  Rev.  Edwin  R.  Gilbert 
(Yale  1829). 

AUTHORITIES. 

Atwater    History    and    Genealogy,       ford,  ii,  1142.-  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
123,  151.     Bailey;  Early  Conn.  Mar-       Diary,  iii,  412-13. 
riages,  iv,  65.     Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Strat- 


WILLIAM  PITT  BEERS,  the  younger  son  of  Samuel 
Beers,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Samuel 
and  Sarah  (Sherman)  Beers,  of  Newtown,  was  born  in 
Stratford  on  April  12,  1766.  His  mother  was  Sarah, 
second  daughter  of  Colonel  Jabez  and  Elizabeth 
(Edwards)  Huntington,  of  Windham,  Connecticut,  and 
widow  of  Hezekiah  Wetmore,  of  Middletown,  Connec- 
ticut. 

He  studied  law,  and  settled  in  Albany,  New  York,  where 
he  became  somewhat  distinguished  in  his  profession.  On 
June  9,  1793,  he  married  Anna,  daughter  of  the  Hon. 
Jonathan  Sturges,  of  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  and  sister  of 
Lewis  B.  Sturges  (Yale  1782),  who  was  baptized  on  April 
14,  1765. 

In  February,  1810,  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  City  and 
County  of  Albany ;  but  his  health  soon  failed,  and  he  died 
25 


386  Yale  College 

at  his  father-in-law's  house  in  Fair  field  on  September  13, 
1810,  in  his  45th  year. 

In  one  of  the  notices  of  his  death  his  Essays  on  political 
subjects  are  likened  to  those  of  Junius. 

His  wife  survived  him.  One  son  was  graduated  at  the 
Yale  Medical  School  in  1824. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,       Hist,   of   Stratford,  ii,   1144.     Perry, 
45.      Goodwin,    Genealogical     Notes,       Old  Burying  Ground  of  Fairneld,  54. 
302.    Hurd,  Hist,  of  Fairneld  County,       Schcnck,  Hist,  of  Fairneld,  ii,  499. 
293.     Huntington  Family,  97.     Orcutt, 


DAVID  BELDEN  was  born  in  Wilton,  then  part  of  Nor- 
walk,  Connecticut,  on  July  16  [or  19],  1764, — the  youngest 
son  of  Azor  and  Mary  Belden,  and  grandson  of  William 
and  Margaret  (Arms)  Belden,  of  Wilton. 

He  did  not  receive  his  degree  until  1787.     [  • 

In  the  meantime  he  had  studied  theology,  and  on  Sep- 
tember 21,  1786,  had  been  admitted  to  the  diaconate  in 
the  Episcopal  Church  by  Bishop  Seabury  at  Derby. 

He  exercised  his  ministry  for  a  short  time  in  Fairfield 
County, — his  longest  service  being  for  four  months  in 
1788  in  Ridgefield, — but  ill  health  compelled  him  to  forego 
advancement  to  the  priesthood,  and  he  retired  to  his  farm 
in  Wilton,  where  he  lived  quietly  for  the  rest  of  his  days. 

He  died  in  Wilton,  of  consumption,  on  March  2,  1832,  in 
his  68th  year. 

He  married  on  December  21,  1794,  Martha,  youngest 
daughter  of  Seth  and  Elizabeth  (Mallory)  Hull,  of  Red- 
ding, Connecticut.  She  died  in  Danbury,  on  July  31, 
1846,  aged  72  years.  Their  children  were  two  sons  and 
two  daughters. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Beardsley,  Hist,  of  the  Episcopal  Convention,  1866,  165.  Selleck,  Nor- 
Church  in  Conn.,  i,  386-87.  Convo-  walk,  i,  394-95.  Stiles,  Hist,  of 
cation  Records,  Diocese  of  Conn.,  Wethersfield,  ii,  91.  Todd,  Hist,  of 
44,  152.  Journal  of  Conn.  Episcopal  Redding,  200. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  387 

EBENEZER  BELKNAP  was  probably  born  in  Durham, 
Connecticut,  in  1761. 

He  first  entered  Dartmouth  College,  but  when  a  Junior 
there  took  a  dismission,  on  February  26,  1784,  and  applied 
for  admission  to  Yale  in  April.  He  was  not  then  success- 
ful, but  applied  again  in  September  and  was  admitted. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine,  and  practiced  for 
a  short  time,  though  apparently  not  in  Connecticut.  He 
then  returned  to  Durham,  and  about  1816  removed  to  New 
York  City,  where  he  was  employed  in  the  Custom  House 
until  near  the  close  of  his  life. 

He  died  in  New  York  on  December  8,  1842,  aged  81 
years. 

For  the  first  half  of  his  life  or  more  he  was  a  free- 
thinker but  later  became  a  Swedenborgian. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Prof.   W.   C.  Fowler,  MS.  Letter,       Diary,  iii,  119,  135. 
March  7,  1867.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 


BARNABAS  BIDWELL,  younger  son  of  the  Rev.  Adonijah 
Bidwell  (Yale  1740),  was  born  in  that  part  of  Tyringham 
which  is  now  Monterey,  Massachusetts,  on  August  23, 
1763.  His  mother  died  in  his  childhood,  and  his  father  in 
June  of  his  Junior  year.  He  excelled  in  the  languages  in 
his  College  course. 

Immediately  after  graduation  he  began  teaching  a 
young  ladies'  school  in  New  Haven  (formerly  taught  by 
Jedidiah  Morse,  Class  of  1783),  in  conjunction  with  his 
classmate  Leavitt. 

On  October  18,  1787,  he  was  elected  to  a  tutorship  in  the 
College,  and  he  entered  on  his  duties  the  next  week.  He 
continued  in  the  office  for  three  years,  retiring  at  Com- 
mencement, 1790,  with  a  considerable  reputation  for 
elegance  as  a  writer. 


388  Yale  College 

He  studied  law,  and  settled  in  practice  in  Stockbridge, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  soon  became  prominent. 

He  se'rved  as  Treasurer  of  Berkshire  County  from 
September,  1791,  to  August,  1810.  Meantime  he  was  a 
member  of  the  State  Senate  from  1801  to  1805,  and  was 
then  elected  to  the  National  House  of  Representatives. 
He  was  a  recent  convert  from  Federalism  to  Republi- 
canism, and  went  to  Congress  with  a  reputation  for  leader- 
ship and  oratory  from  which  great  things  were  hoped  by 
his  party;  but  he  disappointed  their  expectations.  The 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  on  him 
by  Brown  University  in  1805. 

In  June,  1807,  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  Attorney- 
General  of  the  State,  in  preference  to  a  return  to  Congress. 

There  had  previously  been  some  charges  against  his 
honesty,  but  they  were  supposed  to  be  due  to  party  malice. 
In  June,  1810,  however,  a  private  investigation  into  his 
accounts  as  County  Treasurer  disclosed  a  failure  to  pay 
over  sums  collected  by  him  and  a  corresponding  falsifica- 
tion of  the  records.  The  matter  was  on  the  point  of  being 
carried  to  the  Courts,  when  he  absconded,  early  in  August, 
to  avoid  a  prosecution  for  embezzlement.  The  funds 
abstracted  were  supposed  to  amount,  with  interest,  to 
about  ten  thousand  dollars. 

Just  at  that  time  President  Madison  had  his  name  under 
consideration  for  a  place  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States. 

He  settled  with  his  family  in  Bath,  a  village  on  the  Bay 
of  Quinte,  north  of  Lake  Ontario,  in  Upper  Canada, 
whence  he  removed  about  1820  to  Kingston,  some  twenty 
miles  to  the  eastward.  Being  an  alien  he  was  not 
admitted  to  practice  in  the  Courts  (though  he  gave  some 
attention  to  office-consultations),  and  he  was  also  unable 
to  accept  an  election  to  the  Canadian  Parliament,  though 
a  prominent  figure  in  relation  to  public  affairs.  He  made 
a  profession  of  religion  in  1825. 

He  retained  his  mental  vigor  to  the  last,  and  died  in 
Kingston,  after  a  brief  illness,  on  July  27,  1833,  at  tne 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  389 

of  seventy.  A  Sermon  preached  on  his  death,  by  his 
pastor,  the  Rev.  J.  Smith,  was  published. 

One  who  remembered  him  well  in  this  last  portion  of 
his  life  describes  him  as  "a  profound  jurist,  a  man  of 
great  culture  and  attainments  outside  of  the  law  as  well  as 
in  it,"  "distinguished  for  his  courtly  and  agreeable 
manners,  his  great  conversational  powers,  his  mental  and 
personal  activity." 

He  married  in  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  on  February 
21,  1793,  Mary  Gray,  a  native  of  Stockbridge.  She  died 
on  February  2,  1808,  in  her  44th  year.  Their  children 
were  one  daughter,  who  never  married,  and  one  son,  who 
became  a  distinguished  lawyer  in  Canada  and  in  New 
York  City. 

He  published: 

1.  The  Mercenary  Match,  a  Tragedy.     By  Barna  Bidwell.    New- 
Haven  [1784]-     16°,  pp.  57- 

[C  H.  S.  (imperfect).     U.  S.  (imperfect). 

'  Written,  and  published  by  Subscription,  while  the  author  was  a 
Senior,  and  acted  in  College.  For  a  brief  notice,  see  Dunlap's 
History  of  the  American  Theatre,  71.  The  play  is  in  blank  verse,  in 
five  acts.  The  scene  is  laid  in  Boston,  and  the  time  is  that  of 
publication. 

2.  An  Oration  on  the  Death  of  Roger  Newton,  Jun'r.,  A.M.,  a 
Tutor  of  Yale-College,   in   New-Haven,   who   died   August   loth, 
1789;    Pronounced  in  the  College-Chapel,  September  2nd.     New- 
Haven.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

3.  An  Oration,  delivered  at  the  celebration  of  American  Inde- 
pendence, in  Stockbridge,  July,  1795.     Stockbridge,  1795.     8°,  pp. 
23.  [Harv.    M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

In  strong  sympathy  with  the  Federalist  party. 

4.  The  Susquehannah  Title  stated  and  examined,  in  a. series  of 
Numbers,  first  published  in  the  Western  Star  . . .     Catskill,  1796. 
12°,  pp.  115. 

[N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    Pa.  State  Library.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

* 
An  anonymous  legal  and  historical  examination  of  the  claim  of 

Connecticut  to  the  Wyoming  Valley,  deciding  in  her  favor. 


39°  Yale  College 

5.  An  Address  to  the  People  of  Massachusetts.     [Boston,  1804.] 
8°,  pp.  22.  [M.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

An  electioneering  pamphlet,  in  favor  of  the  Republican  candidate 
for  Governor. 

6.  An  Address  to  the  People  of  Massachusetts.    February,  1805. 
8°,  pp.  24.  [U.  S.     Y.  C. 

This  pamphlet  follows  the  same  lines  as  the  one  of  the  previous 
year. 

7.  A  Summary,  Historical  and  Political  Review  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, the  Constitution  and  Government  of  the  United  States:    an 
Oration,   delivered  at   Sheffield,  July  4th,    1805.     Pittsfield,    1805. 
8°,  pp.  22. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.    N.  Y.  State  Libr.    U.  S. 

8.  Commonwealth  of   Massachusetts. — The   Attorney   General's 
Report  respecting  Claims   for  Confiscated  Debts.       Boston,   1808. 
8°,  pp.  23.  [A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv. 

An  Opinion  furnished  to  the  Senate  concerning  the  claims  against 
the  State  preferred  by  persons  who  were  creditors  of  Revolutionary 
Loyalists  whose  property  had  been  confiscated. 

He  is  also  said  to  have  contributed  some  valuable  Sketches  of 
Upper  Canada  to  Robert  Gourlay's  Statistical  Account  of  Upper 
Canada,  London,  1822. 


,  AUTHORITIES. 

/.    Q.   Adams,    Diary,    i,   419.      G.  Schroeder,  Memoirs  of  Mrs.  Board- 

Allen,    Reminiscences,    61.      Bidwell  man,   102,   112-14,  303.    Pres.  Stiles, 

Genealogy,  60,  87.     Columbian  Centi-  Literary  Diary,  iii,   160,  284-85,  322, 

nel,    Aug.     18    and     Sept.     5,     1810.  329,     365,     402.      Tyringham     Vital 

Conn.    Courant,    Aug.    22,    1810.    In  Records,  12. 
Memoriam    M.    S.    Bidwell,    33-34. 


TILLOTSON  BLAKESLEY,  the  youngest  child  of  Tilley 
Blakesley,  of  Waterbury,  North  Haven  and  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  James  and  Thankful 
(Upson)  Blakesley  of  Woodbury,  was  born  in  North 
Haven  on  July  25,  1766,  and  was  baptized  at  Trinity 
Church,  New  Haven,  on  July  27.  His  mother  was 
Hannah,  daughter  of  Ebeneaer  Allyn,  of  New  Haven. 

He  became  insane  soon  after  graduation,  and  so  con- 
tinued until  his  death. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  391 

His  name  was  first  starred  in  the  Triennial  Catalogue 
of  Graduates  issued  in  1817.     He  was  living  in  1815. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Tuttle  Family,  640. 


SOLOMON  BLAKESLEY,  or  BLAKSLEE,  as  he  afterwards 
wrote  it,  son  of  Zophar  and  Eunice  Blakesley,  of  North 
Haven,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Captain  Abraham 
and  Elizabeth  (Cooper)  Blakesley,  was  born  in  North 
Haven  on  November  9,  1762. 

He  studied  theology,  probably  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rich- 
ard Mansfield,  of  Derby,  and  spent  about  a  year  before  his 
ordination  in  Claremont,  New  Hampshire,  in  charge  of  a 
needy  parish  there,  on  an  annual  salary  of  £52,  to  be  paid 
in  grain. 

On  June  3,  1789,  he  received  deacon's  orders  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  from  Bishop  Seabury  at  Norwalk.  He 
had  just  been  called  to  settle  in  Waterbury,  Connecticut, 
where  he  had  officiated  for  a  short  time;  but  he  declined 
the  call  and  returned  to  Claremont,  much  to  the  delight 
of  that  people,  where  he  spent  the  next  two  years  (Sep- 
tember, i79O-September,  1792),  receiving  a  salary  of  £40 
in  money,  and  officiating  for  one-fourth  of  the  time  across 
the  Connecticut  River  in  Weathersfield,  Vermont. 

On  March  i,  1793,  he  accepted  the  charge  of  St. 
Stephen's  Church,  East  Haddam,  Connecticut  (having 
already  officiated  there  for  some  months),  and  on  the  9th 
of  the  following  June  he  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood 
by  Bishop  Seabury  at  Middletown. 

After  a  service  of  twenty-two  years  he  was  called,  on 
March  27,  1815,  to  the  rectorship  of  St.  James's  Church, 
in  New  London,  Connecticut.  He-  accepted  immediately, 
and  in  May  removed  thither.  During  his  three  years' 
incumbency  there  was  renewed  activity  and  abundant  life 
in  the  parish.  Owing,  however,  to  some  dissatisfaction 
he  resigned  the  rectorship  early  in  1818;  and  as  the  church 


392  Yale  College 

in  East  Haddam  had  been  vacant  since  he  left  them,  they 
now  called  him  back  to  his  old  post,  and  in  April  he 
accepted  the  call. 

He  continued  to  serve  this  parish  until  October,  1821, 
when  he  went  to  St.  James's  Church,  Great  Barrington, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  did  excellent  work  until  May, 
1827. 

In  1828  he  returned  to  East  Haddam,  without  taking 
any  parochial  charge;  and  in  1832  he  removed  to  New 
Lisbon,  Otsego  County,  New  York.  As  his  strength 
allowed  he  engaged  in  mission  work  in  that  vicinity. 

He  died  in  New  Lisbon,  on  April  10,  1835,  in  his  73d 
year. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Hallam,  who  remembered  Mr.  Blakslee 
as  rector  in  New  London,  wrote  of  him: — 

He  was  a  man  of  peculiarly  cheerful,  genial,  and  social  tempera- 
ment, an  agreeable  companion  and  associate;  but  was  thought  to 
be  by  many,  perhaps  not  without  reason,  somewhat  deficient  in  the 
gravity  and  seriousness  which  became  his  calling. 

In  1803,  and  again  in  1816,  he  was  active  in  sympathy 
with  the  Rev.  Ammi  Rogers  (Yale  1790),  who  had  been 
suspended  from  the  exercise  of  clerical  functions  in  Con- 
necticut; and  this  brought  him  into  temporary  disfavor 
with  some  of  the  clergy.  Two  of  the  letters  which  he 
wrote  in  this  connection  are  printed  in  Rogers's  Memoirs, 

PP-  54-55,  59-63- 
He  published: 

1.  An  Oration,  delivered  at  East-Haddam,  Feb.  22,  1800,  agree- 
able to  the  Proclamation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States ;   on 
the  Death  of  the  late  General  George  Washington.     Hartford,  1800. 
8°,  pp.  15.  [C.  H.  S.     U.  S. 

In  a  very  stilted  style  of  composition ;  apparently  delivered  at  the 
request  of  a  Lodge  of  Free  Masons. 

2.  An    Address,    delivered    before    the    members    of    the    East- 
Haddam  Branch  of  the  Massachusetts  Peace  Society,  December 
3Oth,  1819.  . .     Middletown,  1820.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[C.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  393 

A  poetical  Farewell  Address,  on  his  leaving  New  Lon- 
don, in  seven  four-line  stanzas,  is  given  in  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Fowler's  Sunday  Visitant  for  March  27,  1819. 

He  married,  on  April  8,  1795,  Anna,  second  daughter  of 
Colonel  Jabez  and  Sarah  (Olmsted)  Chapman,  of  East 
Haddam,  who  was  about  five  years  his  junior. 

Their  children  were  two  sons  and  three  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Batchelder,  Hist,  of  the  Eastern  Convocation  Records,  56,  148-50. 
Diocese,  i,  196.  Beardsley,  Hist,  of  Hallam,  Annals  of  St.  James's 
the  Church  in  Conn.,  ii,  31,  155-57.  Church,  New  London,  87-89.  Hist 
Branson,  Hist,  of  Waterbury,  303.  of  Middlesex  County,  1884,  303. 
Chapman  Family,  43,  46-47.  Conn.  Thorpe,  North  Haven  Annals,  155. 


•  PETER  BULKLEY  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  on 
April  3,  1765,  the  eldest  child  of  Jonathan  and  Hannah 
Bulkley.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  James  Hoyt,  of 
Norwalk.  His  parents'  house  stood  at  the  rear  of  the 
present  Town  House,  and  was  occupied  as  headquarters  by 
Tryon  when  he  burned  Fairfield. 

At  graduation  his  scholarship  was  doubtful,  and  his 
degree  was  granted  speciali  gratia,  two  days  after 
Commencement. 

He  returned  home  after  graduation,  and  in  July,  1787, 
began  the  issue  of  a  short-lived  weekly  newspaper  called 
The  Fairfield  Gazette  or  the  Independent  Intelligencer. 

He  is  mentioned  in  his  father's  will,  in  April,  1789,  but 
his  further  history  is  unknown. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Chapman,     Bulkley     Family,     52.       Oct.  28,  1905.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
Hon.   John   H.   Perry,   MS.    Letter,       Diary,  iii,  181,  185. 


FREDERICK  BUTLER,  son  of  Jonathan  and  Ruth  Butler, 
of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Wethersfield,  Con- 
necticut, on  July  23,  1766. 


394  Yale  College 

He  spent  his  life  in  Wethersfield,  engaged  in  literary 
studies  and  in  composition,  and  for  much  of  the  time 
conducted  a  private  school. 

He  married,  on  January  n,  1787,  Mary,  only  daughter 
of  Colonel  Thomas  Belden  (Yale  1751),  of  Wethersfield. 
She  died  in  Wethersfield  on  January  17,  1811,  in  her  4ist 
year.  He  himself  died  in  Wethersfield  on  April  4,  1843, 
in  his  77th  year. 

His  children  were  five  daughters  and  three  sons.  The 
youngest  son  was  graduated  at  the  Yale  Medical  School  in 
1828,  and  became  Chief  Justice  of  the  State. 

He  published: 

1.  A  Catechetical  Compend  of  General  History,  Sacred  and  Pro- 
fane;   from  the  Creation  of  the  World,  to  the  year  1817,  of  the 
Christian  Era.     Hartford,  1817.     12°,  pp.  iv,  212.  .  % 

[A.  A.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

Same.  3d  edition.  Hartford,  1818.  12°,  pp.  216.  [Harv. 
Same.  4th  edition.  Hartford,  1819.  12°,  pp.  216.  [U.  T.  S. 
Designed  for  the  use  of  schools. 

2.  The  Farmer's  Manual;    being  a  plain,  practical  Treatise  on 
the  Art  of  Husbandry,  designed  to  promote  an  acquaintance  with 
the  modern  improvements  in  Agriculture,  together  with  remarks  on 
Gardening,  and  a  Treatise  on  the  Management  of  Bees.     Hartford 
(Middletown  printed),  1819.     12°,  pp.  224.          [A.  A.  S.     Harv. 

The  same.  Weathersfield  (Middletown  printed),  1821.  12°,  pp. 
224.  [A.  A.  S.  N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.  U.  S. 

From  the  same  types  as  the  foregoing. 

3.  Sketches  of  Universal  History,  sacred  and  profane,  from  the 
creation  of  the  world,  to  the  year  1818,  of  the  Christian  era.   .  . 
Third  edition,  corrected  by  the  author.     Hartford,  1821.     12°,  pp. 
407.  [A.  C.  A.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

4.  A  Complete  History  of  the  United  States  of  America,  embrac- 
ing the  whole  period  from  the  Discovery  of  North  America,  down  to 
the  year  1820.     Hartford,  1821.     3  v.     8°. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

Y.  C. 
The  same.     Elizabethtown,  1822.     3  v.     8°. 

[Peabody  Inst.,  Bolt.     U.  S. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  395 

A  depreciatory  review  of  this  book,  by  Edward  Everett,  is  in 
the  North  American  Review  for  January,  1823,  pp.  156-63. 

5.  The   Elements    of    Geography   and    History,    combined   in   a 
catechetical    form:     accompanied    with    an    Atlas.      Wethersfield, 
1825.     12°,  pp.  360. 

The  same.     2d  edition.     Wethersfield,  1825.     12°,  pp.  408. 

6.  Memoirs  of  the  Marquis  de  LaFayette,  Major-General  in  the 
Revolutionary   Army.    .  .      Together   with   his   Tour   through   the 
United  States.     Wethersfield,  1825.     12°,  pp.  418  +  5  pi. 

[Brown  Univ.     U.  S. 

7.  A  History  of  the  United  States  of  America.     Wethersfield, 

1827.  12°.  [L.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

The  same.     Third  revised  and  improved  Edition.     Wethersfield, 

1828.  12°,  pp.  452.  [U.  S. 

AUTHORITIES. 

N.  E.  Geneal.  and  Hist.  Register,-      Wethersfield,    i,    380,    545;     ii,    84, 
xv,  296;    xvi,   18.      Stiles,   Hist,   of       190-91. 


CALEB  CLAP  was  the  youngest  child  of  Asahel  and 
Sarah  (Wright)  Clap,  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts, 
and  grandson  of  Roger  and  Elizabeth  (Bartlett)  Clap,  of 
Northampton. 

While  studying  medicine  in  Westfield,  Massachusetts, 
with  Dr.  Samuel  Mather  (Yale  1756),  he  died  there, 
unmarried,  from  nervous  fever,  on  November  28,  1787,  in 
the  23d  year  of  his  age.  He  was  buried  in  Westfield. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Clapp  Memorial,  35.     Clark,  Northampton  Antiquities,  288. 


ABRAHAM  LYNSEN  CLARKE  came  to  College  from  Mil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  and  was  probably  the  son  of  Dr.  James 
Clarke.  A  brother  graduated  in  the  same  Class. 

On  graduation  he  became  lay  reader  in  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Milford,  and  on  June  9,  1786,  he  was  ordained 
deacon  by  Bishop  Seabury  at  Stamford.  In  the  spring  of 
1787  he  became  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  in  Hunting- 


396  Yale  College 

ton,  Connecticut,  at  the  same  time  giving  one-third  of  his 
time  to  Christ  Church,  in  Tashua  Parish,  in  the  present 
town  of  Trumbull. 

On  June  7,  1789,  he  was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop 
Seabury,  in  Norwalk. 

On  November  14,  1790,  he  married  Sarah,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Philip  Nichols,  of  Stratfield,  now  Bridge- 
port,— a  sister  of  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Philo  Shelton  (Yale 
1775).  She  was  born  on  August  19,  1769. 

From  Huntington  he  was  called  to  King's  Chapel  (later 
St.  John's  Church),  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island, — Bishop 
Seabury  writing  in  commendation  of  him  that  he  was 
"not  only  a  gentleman  of  good  character  and  understand- 
ing, but  also  of  easy  and  polite  manners,  and  of  diligence 
in  his  profession." 

He  began  his  duties  on  Easter  Day,  March  31,  1793,  and 
remained  with  growing  appreciation  in  Providence  until 
his  resignation  on  March  30,  1800. 

A  week  later  he  took  charge  of  St.  Michael's  Church, 
Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  but  after  a  few  months  it  was 
found  to  be  necessary,  in  order  to  secure  the  use  of  certain 
endowments,  to  reinstate  the  former  Rector,  who  had 
retired  on  account  of  age,  and  to  make  Mr.  Clarke  As- 
sistant Minister.  The  insufficient  income  thus  entailed 
brought  about  his  resignation  early  in  1803. 

In  April,  1803,  he  was  inducted  into  the  united  parishes 
of  St.  James,  Newtown,  and  St.  George's,  Flushing,  on 
Long  Island;  and  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  here,  with 
a  salary  of  £300,  he  was  occupied  until  Flushing  was  made 
a  separate  cure  in  1809.  Mr.  Clarke  remained  in  charge 
of  Newtown,  until  his  death  there,  after  a  lingering 
illness,  on  December  31,  1810,  aged  42  years. 

His  portrait  is  preserved  in  the  family  of  his  brother-in- 
law,  Mr.  Shelton. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Convocation  Records,  142-  1256.  Riker,  Annals  of  Newtown, 
43.  Munro,  Hist,  of  Bristol,  155.  252-53.  Thompson,  Hist,  of  L.  I., 
Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Stratford,  ii,  1031,  ad  ed.,  ii,  89,  147. 


Biographical  Sketches,  17^5  397 

JAMES  BAYNE  CLARKE  was  an  elder  brother  of  the 
preceding  graduate. 

He  settled  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  as  a  lawyer,  and 
being  a  Churchman  identified  himself  in  1807  with  St. 
Ann's  Parish,  of  which  he  was  for  some  years  a  Vestry- 
man. He  was  an  industrious  attorney,  and  also  occupied 
himself  to  a  considerable  extent  with  investments  in  real 
estate. 

For  eleven  years,  from  March,  1819,  he  was  District 
Attorney  of  Kings  County. 

He  died  in  Brooklyn  on  December  5,  1842,  in  his  76th 
year. 

He  married  Eleanor  Fisher,  of  Brooklyn,  by  whom  he 
had  two  daughters. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Stiles,  Hist,  of  Brooklyn,  ii,  63,  82-83,  266. 


ENDS  COOKE,  the  fourth  son  of  Joseph  and  Abigail 
Cooke,  of  South  Hadley  and  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  and 
grandson  of  Noah  and  Sarah  (Marsh)  Cooke,  was  born 
in  Hadley  on  December  28,  1755.  His  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  Luke  and  Sarah  Smith,  of  Sunderland  and 
Hadley. 

He  united  with  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his 
faith  in  July  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

In  December,  1786,  he  took  charge  of  the  Hopkins 
Academy  in  Hadley,  and  retained  that  office  until 
November,  1791. 

Meantime  he  had  studied  law,  and  after  this  for  a  short 
time  he  practiced  his  profession  in  Deerfield,  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Thence  he  went  to  New  York  City,  where  all  trace  of 
him  is  lost. 

AUTHORITIES. 

History  of  the  Hopkins  Fund,  2d  ed.,  pt.  2,  25.  Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 
Hadley,  74.  Judd,  Hist,  of  Hadley,  ary  Diary,  iii,  81. 


Yale  College 


JOHN  DEVOTION,  a  son  of  Judge  Ebenezer  Devotion 
(Yale  1759),  of  Scotland  Parish,  in  Windham,  Connecti- 
cut, was  born  in  1766. 

In  consequence  of  ill-health,  which  made  him  a  cripple, 
he  took  a  dismission  from  College  at  the  close  of  his  Junior 
year;  but  the  Corporation  gave  him  a  degree  with  his 
class,  on  certificates  of  his  proficiency. 

After  graduation  he  went  to  Boston,  where  he  taught 
in  the  Latin  School  (between  1790  and  1795)  and  else- 
where. At  a  later  period  he  held  some  government  posi- 
tion there,  though  a  life-long  invalid.  The  University 
Library  has  a  few  specimens  of  his  letters  and  poetical 
compositions,  remarkable  for  their  elegant  penmanship,  as 
well  as  for  their  contents. 

He  died  in  Boston,  on  July  i,  1810,  aged  44  years, 
"deeply  lamented,"  and  the  small  property  which  he  left 
was  inherited  by  his  father.  In  the  probate  proceedings 
he  is  described  as  a  "Scrivener." 


AUTHORITIES. 

N.     England    Palladium,    July    3,       ii,  557;   iii,  186. 
1810.     Pres.   Stiles,   Literary   Diary, 


ABRAHAM  VANHORN  DEWITT  was  born  in  Milford, 
Connecticut,  on  August  14,  1767,  the  son  of  Garrit  Van- 
Horn  DeWitt,  of  Milford,  who  came  from  Holland  to 
America  in  his  childhood. 

His  mother  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Abraham  and 
Catherine  (Rutgers)  VanHorn. 

Upon  graduation  he  returned  to  Milford,  where,  after 
due  preparation,  he  entered  on  practice  as  a  lawyer. 

He  represented  the  town  in  the  Legislature  in  October, 
1791,  and  was  elected  to  the  same  office  in  thirty  successive 
sessions  before  his  death,  which  occurred  on  August  29, 
1820,  at  the  age  of  53. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  399 

He  married  in  Milford,  on  January  3,  1790,  Martha  (or 
Patty),  daughter  of  Captain  Charles  and  Martha  (Miles) 
Pond.  She  died  on  the  last  day  of  the  following  Septem- 
ber, at  the  age  of  20 ;  and  he  next  married,  on  August  22, 
1792,  Martha,  second  daughter  of  Simeon  Belden,  of 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut. 

She  died  in  Wethersfield  on  April  5,  1841,  in  her  69th 
year.  Their  children  were  seven  sons  and  two  daughters, 
besides  one  daughter  by  his  first  wife. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  v,  Letter,  Febr.,  1907.  Stiles,  Hist,  of 
8.  N.  H.  Colony  Hist.  Soc.  Papers,  Wethersfield,  ii,  84,  284.  Tillotson, 
v,  23.  Mrs.  Nathan  G.  Pond,  MS.  Wethersfield  Inscriptions,  51. 


JOHN  DEAN  DICKINSON,  fourth  child  and  eldest  son  of 
Dr.  John  Dickinson,  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  the  Rev.  Moses  Dickinson  (Yale  1717),  of 
Norwalk,  was  born  in  Middletown  on  June  28,  1767.  His 
mother  was  Eunice,  second  daughter  of  John  Hall,  of 
Wallingford,  and  sister  of  Dr.  Lyman  Hall  (Yale  1747). 

He  read  law  for  three  years  in  Albany,  in  the  office  of 
Major  Richard  Sill  (Yale  1775),  and  about  1790  settled 
in  Lansingburgh,  in  Rensselaer  County,  New  York,  where 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  April,  1791. 

In  1792  he  was  elected  Trustee  of  Lansingburgh 
Village,  and  on  December  27,  1793,  he  married  Ann  Eliza, 
daughter  of  Christopher  Tillman,  of  the  same  place. 

In  1801  he  was  chosen  the  first  President  of  the  Far- 
mers' Bank,  the  first  institution  of  that  nature  in  Troy,  and 
he  soon  removed  to  that  city,  retaining  the  presidency  of 
the  bank  until  1828. 

He  served  as  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  from  November,  1816,  to  April,  1817. 

He  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Congress  for  three 
sessions,  namely,  from  December,  1819,  to  March,  1823, 
and  from  December,  1829,  to  March,  1831. 


400  Yale  College 

He  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  first  citizens  of  Troy, 
and  was  prominent  in  all  public  enterprises,  while  his  house 
was  a  notable  center  of  hospitality,  both  in  Troy  and  in 
Washington. 

He  was  the  first  President  of  the  Troy  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History  (in  1818),  and  one  of  the  original  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute  (in 
1824).  He  was  a  member  of  the  committee  which 
received  Lafayette  on  his  visit  to  Troy  in  1824,  and  he 
entertained  the  General  at  his  home  on  his  second  visit  in 
July,  1825. 

A  contemporary,  the  Hon.  John  Woodworth  (Yale 
1788),  describes  him  as  "a  Lawyer  of  Learning,  of  sound 
Judgment,  and  extensive  Practice." 

He  died  in  Troy  on  January  28,  1841,  in  his  74th  year. 
His  widow  died  in  Troy  on  January  12,  1847,  in  her  7ist 
year.  They  had  six  children,  five  of  whom  died  in  infancy 
or  early  childhood ;  the  surviving  child  married  Benjamin 
Ogle  Tayloe  (Harvard  1815). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Mrs.    G.   B.    Warren,   MS.    Letter,       167.      Woodworth,  Reminiscences  of 
Nov.,    1906.      Weise,   Hist,   of  Troy,       Troy,  39,  62. 
30-31,  69-70,  loo,  114,  136,  147,  152, 


JOSEPH  DRAKE,  only  son  of  Colonel  Joseph  and  Phebe 
(Hunt)  Drake,  of  New  Rochelle,  New  York,  and  New 
Haven,  and  grandson  of  Benjamin  Drake,  of  East 
Chester,  New  York,  was  born  in  New  Rochelle  on  Decem- 
ber 2,  1766.  (The  poet,  Joseph  Rodman  Drake,  was  a 
first  cousin. ) 

He  followed  his  father's  example  by  entering  on  a  mer- 
cantile life  in  New  Haven,  but  was  soon  cut  down,  dying  in 
Demerara  on  July  16,  1794,  in  his  28th  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bolton,      Hist.      of      Westchester      H.  Colony  Hist.  Society  Papers,  iii, 
County,  ii,  515.     Conn.  Journal,  Oct.       515. 
8,    1794.     Hunt   Genealogy,    171.    N. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  401 

ROGER  EELLS,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Rev.  John  Eells 
(Yale  1755),  of  Glastonbury,  Connecticut,  was  born  in 
that  town  on  September  22  (or  24),  1764. 

After  graduation  he  pursued  the  study  of  law  with 
David  Daggett  (Yale  1783),  of  New  Haven,  and  in  1787 
was  teaching  school  in  Norwich,  Connecticut. 

He  died  in  September,  1790,  at  the  age  of  26. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Chapin,  Glastenbury  Centennial,  88.     Huntington  Family,  123. 


JOHN  ELLSWORTH,  the  second  son  of  Daniel  Ellsworth, 
of  Ellington,  then  a  parish  in  Windsor,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Captain  Daniel  and  Mindwell  Ellsworth,  of 
Ellington,  was  born  there  in  1762.  His  mother  was  Mary, 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  McKinstry,  the  first 
minister  of  Ellington,  and  a  sister  of  the  Rev.  John 
McKinstry  (Yale  1746). 

Upon  graduation  he  studied  divinity,  and  soon  after  he 
began  to  preach  he  was  invited  (on  August  31,  1789)  to 
become  the  pastor  of  the  church  in  his  native  parish.  The 
state  of  his  health  forbade  his  acceptance,  but  a  little  later 
he  was  offered  the  charge  of  a  Presbyterian  Church  on 
the  small  Island  of  Saba,  east  of  St.  Croix,  in  the  West 
Indies,  which  then  contained  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  European  families.  Though  in  very  weak  health 
he  accepted  the  call. 

He  was  ordained  to  this  office  at  East  Windsor  on 
December  n,  1789,  and  went  to  Saba,  where  he  labored 
with  great  acceptance  until  obliged  to  give  up  his  charge 
on  account  of  the  failure  of  his  health.  He  then  returned 
to  Connecticut,  and  after  a  lingering  illness  died  at  his 
father's  house  in  Ellington,  from  consumption,  on  Novem- 
ber 22,  1791,  in  his  3<Dth  year.  The  sermon  preached  at 
his  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  David  McClure  (Yale  1769), 

of  East  Windsor,  was  afterwards  published. 
26 


4° 2  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Sprague,    Annals     of     the    Amer.       of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  i,  823,  837,  867; 
Pulpit,  ii,  8.     Pres.  E.  Stiles,  Literary       ii,  221. 
Diary,   iii,   376.    H.  R.   Stiles,   Hist. 


RICHARD  ELY,  fifth  child  and  elder  surviving  son  of  the 
Rev.  Richard  Ely  (Yale  1754),  of  North  Madison, 
Connecticut,  was  born  on  June  28,  1765. 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation  with  Dr.  John 
Noyes,  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  received  from  him  in 
June,  1786,  a  certificate  of  recommendation,  on  the 
strength  of  which  he  began  practice  in  North  Killing- 
worth,  now  Killingworth,  Connecticut. 

On  September  4,  1791,  he  married  Eunice,  fifth  daugh- 
ter of  Oliver  and  Catharine  (Brewer)  Bliss,  of  (North) 
Wilbraham,  Massachusetts ;  and  some  three  or  four  years 
later  he  removed  to  his  wife's  native  parish,  but  remained 
there  for  only  about  a  year,  owing  to  the  state  of  his  health, 
and  then  settled  in  Pautapaug,  the  present  village  of 
Centerbrook  (then  part  of  Saybrook,  but  now  in  the  town 
of  Essex),  Connecticut,  where  his  father  had  been  the 
minister  since  1786. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Ely  resigned  his  charge  in  September, 
1804,  and  a  few  months  later  Dr.  Ely  removed  with  his 
father  to  the  village  of  Chester,  some  four  miles  to  the 
northwards,  in  the  same  town. 

Here  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  doing  a  large  consulta- 
tion business  in  the  adjacent  region  and  sharing  the  con- 
fidence and  respect  of  the  profession  and  of  the  public  in 
a  large  degree.  The  honorary  degree  of  M.D.  was  given 
him  by  Yale  College  in  1814. 

He  represented  the  town  of  Saybrook  in  the  State  Legis- 
lature in  May,  1808,  but  declined  further  service  of  that 
nature,  as  incompatible  with  his  professional  duties. 

He  died  in  Chester,  on  April  27,  1816,  from  a  fever 
brought  on  by  overwork  and  exposure,  in  his  5ist  year. 

His  widow  died  at  the  house  of  her  daughter,  in  Bing- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  403 

hamton,  New  York,  on  April  16,  1850,  in  her  82d  year. 
Their  children  were  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
elder  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1813. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bliss  Genealogy,  79.  Conn.  MeJ.  ily,  ii,  1127.  The  Ely  Ancestry,  101, 
Society's  Proceedings,  1877,  150-51;  185-87.  Ely  Reunion,  120-21.  Pres. 
1892,  555-56.  Dwight,  Strong  Fam-  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,  553. 


REUBEN  FAIRCHILD  was  a  son  of  Robert  Fairchild,  a 
sea-captain  of  Milford  and  New  Haven,  and  Mrs.  Ruth 
Fairchild. 

After  graduation  he  lived  in  the  north  part  of  Stratford, 
now  Trumbull,  Connecticut,  and  was  killed  by  lightning 
while  riding  home  from  Stratford,  on  June  18,  1788,  at 
the  age  of  22  years.  Between  the  time  of  his  graduation 
and  his  death  his  father  had  removed  from  New  Haven 
to  Fredericksburg,  now  Volney,  in  Oswego  County,  New 

York.  H 

•   ' 

AUTHORITIES. 
Conn.  Journal,  June  25,  1788.     New-Haven  Gazette,  June  26,  1788. 


SIMEON  FIELD,  the  eldest  child  of  Dr.  Simeon  Field,  of 
Enfield,  Connecticut,  and  nephew  of  Dr.  Samuel  Field 
(Yale  1745),  was  born  in  Enfield  on  June  3,  1765.  His 
mother  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Peter 
Raynolds  (Harvard  1720),  of  Enfield,  and  sister  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Raynolds  (Yale  1750).  He  joined  College  in 
May  of  the  Freshman  year.  A 

He  studied  medicine  with  his  father,  and  settled  at  first 
in  Somers,  the  town  next  east  of  Enfield;  but  about  1790, 
on  the  decline  of  his  father's  health,  he  returned  to  Enfield, 
where  he  became  locally  distinguished  for  his  valuable 
professional  services.  Though  not  a  member  of  the 
church,  he  was  always  a  stable  friend  and  supporter  of  the 
institutions  of  religion. 


404  Yale  College 

After  a  feebleness  of  several  months  he  died  in  Enfield 
on  March  i,  1822,  in  his  57th  year. 

He  left  no  descendants,  and  his  property,  inventoried  at 
$6833,  was  divided  between  his  brothers  and  sisters. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  was  con- 
ferred on  him  by  Yale  College  in  1817. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Allen,  Hist,   of  Enfield,  i,  47;    ii,       E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,  xxxvr 
1419,    1658;     iii,    2272,    2335.      Conn.       356-57.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 
Courant,    March    19,    1822.      Long-       iii,  21. 
meadow    Centennial,   Appendix.     N. 


ABEL  FLINT,  a  son  of  James  Flint,  of  Windham,  Con- 
necticut, was  born  in  Windham  on  August  6  or  7,  1765. 
A  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1773.  He  united  with 
the  College  Church  on  profession  of  faith  in  July  of  his 
Sophomore  year.  He  excelled  in  scholarship,  especially 
in  fiebrew,  and  delivered  an  Hebrew  oration  at 
graduation. 

He  spent  four  years,  from  1786  to  1790,  as  a  tutor  in 
Brown  University,  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  and  in  the 
meantime  studied  theology. 

After  preaching  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  and  else- 
where, in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1790  he  began  to 
preach  to  the  Second,  now  known  as  the  South,  Congrega- 
tional Society  in  Hartford,  Connecticut;  and  early  in  1791 
he  was  called  to  the  pastorate,  on  a  salary  of  £120,  over 
a  church  of  twenty-nine  members. 

This  call  he  accepted,  and  was  ordained  on  April  20, 
1791.  The  sermon  on  the  occasion  was  preached  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Enos  Hitchcock  (Harvard  1767),  of  Providence, 
who  had  probably  been  Mr.  Flint's  theological  instructor. 

Mr.  Flint  had  a  sonorous  voice  and  stately  form,  and 
was  a  preacher  of  more  than  ordinary  power,  and  an 
especially  graceful  and  impressive  orator.  His  church 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  4°5 

enjoyed  several  seasons  of  revival  during  his  ministry. 
He  was  active  and  earnest  in  all  good  works,  and  especially 
was  ardently  interested  "in  The  Missionary  Society  of 
Connecticut,,  of  which  from  its  organization  in  1798  until 
1822  he  was  the  Secretary  and  chief  executive  officer.  He 
was  similarly  active  for  many  years  in  the  management  of 
the  Connecticut  Bible  Society. 

Union  College  gave  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  in  1818. 

His  ministry  was  laborious  and  fruitful,  until  in  June, 
1822,  he  was  thrown  from  a  wagon  with  such  violence  as 
not  only  to  give  a  severe  shock  to  his  system,  but  also  to 
affect  in  some  degree  his  mental  powers.  At  about  the 
same  time  his  Society  was  much  disturbed  by  a  few  sym- 
pathizers with  Universalist  doctrine,  and  this  increased  his 
disabilities.  After  a  period  of  great  depression,  he  sent 
in  his  resignation  in  November,  1823,  and  his  dismission 
was  formally  approved  by  a  council  on  January  13,  1824. 

His  health  declined  steadily,  and  he  died  in  Hartford  on 
March  7,  1825,  in  his  6oth  year.  He  had  been  living  for 
some  months  previously  in  the  family  of  the  late  Colonel 
Elijah  Terry.  The  sermon  preached  at  his  funeral  by  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Robbins  (Yale  1796)  was  afterwards 
published. 

He  married,  in  the  year  of  his  ordination,  Amelia,  the 
eldest  child  of  Colonel  Hezekiah  Bissell,  of  East  Windsor, 
Connecticut,  who  died  of  consumption  in  Hartford  on 
January  19,  1810,  aged  45  years.  The  sermon  preached 
at  her  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  Yates,  of  East 
Hartford,  was  afterwards  published.  They  had  three 
sons,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  and  one  daughter,  who 
married  the  Rev.  Herman  Norton  (Hamilton  College 
1823). 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  has  recorded  his  reminis- 
cences of  Dr.  Flint,  as  a  man  of  culture  and  impressive 
dignity. 


406  Yale  College 

He  published: 

1.  A  Discourse  [from  Isa.  iii,  1-3],  delivered  at  Hartford  Feb. 
22,  1800,  the  day  set  apart  by  recommendation  of  Congress,  to 
pay  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  General  George  Wash- 
ington. . .     Hartford,  1800.     8°,  pp.  22. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    J.  Carter  Brown  Libr.     C.  H.  S. 
Harv.    M.  H.  S.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

2.  A  Sermon  [from  Acts  xxviii,  31],  delivered  at  the  Ordination 
of  the  Rev.  Josiah  B.  Andrews  . .  in  Killingworth,  April  21,  1802. 
Hartford,  1802.    8°,  pp.  27. 

{A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.     C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  5.     Y.  C. 
The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-22. 

3.  A  System  of  Geometry  and  Trigonometry:    together  with  a 
Treatise  on  Surveying.   . .     Compiled  from  various  authors.     Hart- 
ford, 1804.     8°,  pp.  168  +  4  pl-  [B.  Publ.    Harv.     Y.  C. 

The  important  part  of  this  work  is  the  treatise  on  surveying, 
which  was  held  in  considerable  esteem.  Four  editions  appeared  in 
the  author's  lifetime,  without  essential  change;  and  after  his  death 
it  was  revised  and  enlarged  by  George  Gillet,  and  by  others. 

4.  Prepare    for    Death! — A    Sermon    [from    Matth.    xxiv,    44], 
delivered  at   Hartford,   Sept.    17,    1806,   at  the   Funeral  of  John 
McCurdy  Strong,  son  of  the  Rev.  Nathan  Strong,  D.D.    .     .     . 
Hartford,  1806.     8°,  pp.  16. 

[B.  Ath.     B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     Y.  C. 

5.  Death  the  lot  of  all ! — A  Sermon  [from  Job  xxx,  23],  delivered 
at  East-Hartford,  November  3,  1806,  at  the  Funeral  of  Mrs.  Mary 
Yates,  Consort  of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Yates  .  .  Hartford,  1806.     8°, 
pp.  15.  [A.  C.  A.     C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

6.  A  Charity  Sermon  [from  Acts  xx,  35],  delivered  in  the  North 
Presbyterian  Meeting-House  in  Hartford,  on  the  evening  of  October 
7th,  1810:  by  desire  of  The  Female  Beneficent  Society.     Hartford, 
1810.     8°,  pp.  12. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.     C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

7.  A  Discourse  [from  Ps.  cxlvii,  12-14],  occasioned  by  the  news 
of  peace,  delivered  at  the  South  Meeting-House  in  Hartford,  Febru- 
ary 14,  1815.     Hartford,  1815.     8°,  pp.  n.          [C.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

8.  A    Sermon    [from    John    xxi,    16],    preached    at    Windham, 
November  22,  1815,  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Cornelius  B. 
Everest.     Windham,  1816.     8°,  pp.  28.  [A.  C.  A.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-23. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  4°7 

9.  A  Sermon  [from  Prov.  xiv,  34],  preached  at  the  Anniversary 
Election,  Hartford,  May  9,  1816.     Hartford,  1816.     8°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B-nt.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

10.  A  Sermon   [from  Titus  iii,  8],  delivered  at  East-Haddam, 
October  23,  1816,  at  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  Isaac  Parsons.     .     . 
Hartford,  1816.     8°,  pp.  27.  [U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

n.  A  Sermon  [from  Luke  i,  15]  delivered  at  West  Springfield, 
August  25,  1819;  at  the  ordination  of  the  Reverend  William  B. 
Sprague  . .  Hartford,  1819.  8°,  pp.  31. 

[A.C.A.  B.  Publ.  Brit.  Mus.  Broivn  Univ.  C.  H.  S.  U.  S. 
Y.C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-23. 

12.  An  Address,  delivered  at  the  Baptist  Meeting-House,  in 
Hartford,  April  27,  1819,  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Hartford 
Sunday  School  Society.  Hartford,  1819.  12°,  pp.  15.  [C.  H.  S. 

Dr.  Flint  was  the  President  of  the  Society. 

He  also  assisted  his  neighbor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Strong  (Yale 
1769),  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Hartford,  in  his  editorship  of 
The  Hartford  Selection  of  Hymns,  first  published  in  1799,  and  in 
the  editorship  of  the  first  series  of  The  Connecticut  Evangelical 
Magazine,  1800-07. 

He  also  published  the  following : 

Sermons  of  John  Baptist  Massillon  and  Louis  Bourdaloue  .  . 
Also  a  Spiritual  Paraphrase  of  some  of  the  Psalms  .  .  By  J.  B. 
Massillon. — Translated  by  Rev.  Abel  Flint  . .  Hartford,  1805.  12°, 
pp.  310.  [Harv.  M.  H.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.    Evangelical    Magazine,    2d      Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  273- 
series,  iii,   107-13.    Parker,  Hist,  of      75.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii, 
the  Second  Church  in  Hartford,  163-      81,  184,  416.     G.  Sumner,  Sketches  of 
88,   391.     T.  Robbins,  Diary,  i,  894,       Physicians  in  Hartford,  4. 
904-05,    924,    954,   996-97.     Sprague, 


HEZEKIAH  GOODRICH,  the  third  son  and  fourth  child  of 
Hezekiah  Goodrich,  of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  and  a 
nephew  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elizur  Goodrich  (Yale  1752),  was 
born  on  February  28,  and  baptized  on  April  2,  1769.  His 


4°8  Yale  College 

mother  was  Jerusha,  eldest  child  of  Charles  and  Jerusha 
(Goodrich)  Butler,  of  Stepney  Parish,  in  Wethersfield. 
His  right  hand  was  defective,  but  his  left  hand  served  well 
for  all  purposes. 

He  studied  divinity  under  his  uncle's  direction,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  East  Association  of 
Ministers  on  May  25,  1790. 

In  April,  1793,  he  was  invited  to  settle  in  the  ministry 
in  Rutland,  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  on  a  salary 
of  £100,  and  having  accepted  the  call  he  was  ordained 
there  on  June  19.  He  continued  in  office  until  his  death, 
in  Rutland,  on  February  7,  1812,  at  the  age  of  45. 

He  married  in  Holden,  Massachusetts,  on  August  7  or 
13,  1793,  Mary,  daughter  of  the  late  Belcher  and  Abigail 
(Robbins)  Richards,  of  Princeton — she  being  then  resi- 
dent in  Rutland,  her  mother's  native  place.  She  died  in 
Rutland,  on  April  22,  1826,  aged  49  years. 

Their  children  were  five  sons  and  two  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Case,    Goodrich    Family,    75,    125.       Records,   47,    145,  228.      Pres.  Ezra 
Holden  Vital  Records,  136.     Morse,       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,   iii,  227,  394. 
Richards     Family,     108.      Princeton       H.  R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethersfield, 
Vital   Records,   57.     Reed,   Hist   of       ii,  383. 
Rutland,  85-87,   101.     Rutland  Vital 


RUSSELL  or  ROSWELL  GOODRICH,  the  elder  son  and 
second  child  of  John  Goodrich,  of  Glastonbury,  Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  Deacon  David  and  Sarah  (Edwards) 
Goodrich,  was  born  in  Glastonbury  on  February  6,  1765. 
His  mother  was  Abigail,  daughter  of  Daniel  Deming,  Jr., 
of  Glastonbury,  and  he  was  a  third  cousin  of  his  classmate, 
just  noticed. 

He  spent  his  life  quietly  in  his  native  town,  where  he 
died,  unmarried,  on  April  8,  1837,  in  his  73d  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Case,   Goodrich   Family,  62.     Tal-       N.  E.  Families,  528. 
cott,   Geneal.    Notes   of    N.    Y.    and 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  4°9 

WILLIAM  GRAVES,  the  son  of  Perez  Graves,  of  Hatfield, 
Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Elnathan  and  Martha 
(Dickinson)  Graves,  of  Hatfield,  was  born  there  on 
February  n,  1766.  His  mother  was  Martha,  daughter  of 
Samuel  and  Sarah  (Billings)  Gillett,  of  Hatfield.  His 
popularity  in  his  class  was  so  great,  that  he  was  elected 
to  give  the  Valedictory  (or  Class)  Oration  at  graduation. 

He  studied  divinity  with  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph 
Lyman  (Yale  1767),  and  in  December,  1790,  began  to 
supply  the  Congregational  pulpit  in  Muddy  Brook  Society, 
North  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  where  he  was  ordained 
pastor  on  August  31,  1791.  The  ordination  sermon  by 
Dr.  Lyman  was  afterwards  published. 

His  faithful  pastorate  pursued  its  even  tenor  until 
pulmonary  consumption  set  in,  which  ended  in  his  death, 
after  about  six  months  of  feebleness,  in  Woodstock,  on 
August  26,  1813,  in  his  48th  year.  The  sermon  delivered 
at  his  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Eliphalet  Lyman  (Yale  1776), 
pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Woodstock,  was  published 
in  1814. 

He  was  accounted  a  Christian  when  he  entered  the 
ministry,  but  some  five  years  later  he  came  to  a  deeper 
conviction  of  faith  and  duty,  from  which  he  thenceforth 
dated  his  religious  life. 

He  was  highly  respected  and  beloved  by  his  people,  and 
distinguished  for  his  .  prudence,  modesty,  candor,  and 
fidelity.  In  1806  he  spent  three  months  in  a  missionary 
tour  to  Central  New  York,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut. 

He  married  about  1796  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Justus 
Forward  (Yale  1754),  of  Belchertown,  Massachusetts. 

She  died  in  1806,  and  a  second  wife,  Mrs.  Delia  Graves, 
from  Rochester,  Massachusetts,  survived  him,  and  next 
married,  on  October  15,  1815,  the  Rev.  Holland  Weeks 
(Dartmouth  Coll.  1795),  of  Abington,  Massachusetts. 

He  had  no  children. 


410  Yale  College 

He  published: 

1.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Tim.  i,  10],  preached  at  the  Funeral  of 
Mr.  Silas  May,  who  died  December  26,  1805,  aged  51.     Hartford, 
1807.     8°,  pp.  16.       [A.  C.  A,    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Broivn  Univ. 

2.  A  Sermon   [from  Isa.  liv,  10],  preached  Lord's  Day,  at  the 
Funeral  of  Mr.  Alpha  Child,  who  departed  this  life  Jan.  20,  1809, 
aged  55.     Hartford,  1810.    8°,  pp.  16. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brown  Univ.     Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Congregational  Quarterly,  iii,  353.  ed.,  Appendix.  Lamed,  Hist,  of 
Conn.  Evangelical  Magazine,  vii,  Windham  County,  ii,  368,  453.  Pres. 
286-87.  Judd,  Hist,  of  Hadley,  2d  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  155,  172. 


PEARLEY  GROSVENOR  came  to  College  from  Pomfret, 
Connecticut,  and  is  supposed  to  have  returned  there  after 
graduation.  He  united  with  the  College  Church  in 
August  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

He  died  at  an  early  age,  in  March,  1787. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.   Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  82. 


LEVI  HACKLEY  came  to  College  from  New  Lebanon, 
then  part  of  Canaan,  Columbia  County,  New  York. 

He  left  College  in  November  of  his  Sophomore  year,  to 
teach  school,  but  was  taken  ill  and  was  not  able  to  return 
to  his  place  in  the  Class.  He  was  given  his  degree  in 
September,  1786,  but  died  before  the  year  was  out. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  238-39. 


DAVID  HALE,  a  son  of  Deacon  Richard  Hale,  of  Cov- 
entry, Connecticut,  and  a  brother  of  Nathan  Hale  (Yale 
1773),  the  martyr-spy,  was  born  in  (South)  Coventry  on 
December  15,  1761. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  411 

• 

He  studied  divinity  with  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Day  (Yale 
1756),  of  New  Preston  Society,  in  the  present  township  of 
Washington,  Connecticut,  and  paid  for  his  board  by 
instructing  the  children  of  the  family,  of  whom  one,  who 
afterwards  became  the  President  of  the  College,  always 
remembered  his  preceptor  with  gratitude. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  County 
Association  of  Ministers  on  May  30,  1787.  He  was  sub- 
sequently, in  accordance  with  his  own  views  as  to  what 
was  necessary,  ordained  as  a  minister  at  large  by  a 
Presbytery  on  Long  Island.  On  February  23,  1789,  he 
received  a  call,  which  he  declined,  to  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Ellington,  Connecticut. 

On  June  2,  1790,  he  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Newent  Society,  now  Lisbon, 
Connecticut.  His  gentle  and  winning  manners  and 
exalted  piety  were  calculated  to  secure  success,  but  his 
exaggerated  notions  of  disinterested  benevolence  inter- 
fered with  practical  life. 

During  his  pastorate  he  was  obliged  to  add  to  his 
resources  by  receiving  pupils  into  his  family,  and  he  proved 
a  very  popular  instructor,  but  his  sensitive  organization 
was  not  fitted  to  endure  this  additional  burden. 

A  threatening  'pulmonary  affection  and  constitutional 
depression  of  spirits  led  to  his  resignation  on  April  27, 
1803;  and  he  then  returned  to  the  paternal  farm  in 
Coventry,  where  he  lived  as  a  farmer  and  teacher.  His 
farm  was  a  model  one  for  the  time.  His  health  never 
allowed  him  again  to  undertake  any  ministerial  duty.  In 
October,  1806,  he  was  chosen  a  Deacon  in  the  First  Church 
in  Coventry,  which  office  he  held  till  his  death;  and  he 
represented  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly  at  eight 
sessions  between  1806  and  1811. 

He  was  also  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Tolland  County 
Court  from  1808  to  1816. 

He  died  in  Coventry  on  February  10,  1822,  in  his  6ist 
year. 


412  Yale  College 

He  married,  on  May  19,  1790,  Lydia  Austin,  of  New 
Haven,  a  sister  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Austin  (Yale  1783). 
She  died  on  April  28,  1849,  m  Rockville,  Connecticut,  in 
her  85th  year. 

Their  only  child,  David  Hale,  had  a  distinguished  career 
in  New  York  City  as  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  Journal 
of  Commerce. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Caulkins,  Hist,  of  Norwich,  2d  ed.,  Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii, 

441-42.     Dimock,  Coventry  Records,  117,  265,  459.     H.  R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of 

53.    Dwight,   Strong  Family,   i,   332,  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  i,  823.     Stuart,  Life 

352-53.    Rev.  Dr.  A.  Lee,  MS.  Letter  of    Nathan    Hale,    197.      Thompson, 

to    Rev.    Dr.    B.    Trumbull,    May   6,  Memoir  of  David  Hale,  7,  495. 
1806.      New    Englander,    xxvi,    695. 


JOSHUA  HENSHAW,  the  third  son  and  child  of  Benjamin 
Henshaw,  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  and  his  second 
wife,  Huldah  Stillinan,  was  born  in  Middletown,  on  June 
25,  1765.  His  mother  was  the  youngest  child  of  John  and 
Mary  (Wolcott)  Stillman,  of  Wethersneld,  and  widow  of 
William  Sumner,  Jr.,  of  Middletown.  The  Rt.  Rev.  John 
P.  K.  Henshaw,  Bishop  of  Rhode  Island,  was  his  nephew. 

He  settled  in  Middletown  as  a  lawyer,  and  married 
there,  on  October  21,  1787,  Esther,  third  daughter  of 
Captain  Ashbel  and  Hannah  (Sage)  Burnham,  of 
Middletown. 

In  1792  he  removed  to  New  Hartford,  in  Litchfield 
County,  and  thence  in  1797  to  Middlebury,  Vermont.  The 
rector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Middletown  made  a 
visit  to  Middlebury,  in  June,  1802,  to  baptize  six  children 
of  Mr.  Henshaw. 

Some  years  later,  certainly  before  1819,  he  removed  to 
Montreal,  Canada,  where  he  died  on  November  15,  1840, 
in  his  76th  year.  His  widow  died  on  May  13,  1853,  aged 
nearly  85  years. 

Their  children  were  six  sons  and  five  daughters. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  413 

AUTHORITIES. 

Burnham  Genealogy,  2d  ed.,  158-  Letter,  Oct.  30,  1905.  Pres.  Stiles, 
59.  Field,  Centennial  Address  at  Literary  Diary,  iii,  97.  Swift,  Hist. 
Middletown,  206.  F.  F.  Starr,  MS."  of  Middlebury,  Vt.,  177,  211,  273. 


DAVID  HIGGINS,  a  son  of  Captain  Cornelius  Higgins,  of 
Eastham,  Massachusetts,  and  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and 
his  wife  Sarah  Hawes,  was  born  in  Haddam  on  August  6, 
1761.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  his  interest  in  religion  was 
aroused,  and  in  the  Spring  of  1780  he  began  to  study  under 
his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Eleazar  May  (Yale  1752),  with  the 
object  of  entering  College  and  becoming  a  minister.  In 
November,  1781,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Freshman  Class 
in  Dartmouth  College,  and  in  April,  1784,  he  transferred 
his  relation  to  Yale. 

Soon  after  graduation  he  went  to  reside  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  Smalley  (Yale  1756),  of  New  Britain,  Connec- 
ticut, to  study  theology  under  his  tuition,  and  at  the 
same  time,  as  a  means  of  support,  he  taught  a  district 
school. 

Here  he  continued  until  June,  1786,  when  he  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South  Association  of 
Ministers;  after  which  he  spent  several  weeks  in  further 
study  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Lyman  (Yale  1767),  of 
Hatfield,  Massachusetts. 

After  preaching  for  short  terms  in  several  places,  he 
was  invited  by  the  people  of  the  North  Parish  in  Lyme, 
(Hamburg  Society)  to  preach  to  them  with  a  view  to 
settlement.  He  began  his  labors  with  them  in  April,  1787, 
and  on  the  I7th  of  the  ensuing  October  he  was  ordained 
and  installed  as  their  pastor. 

In  1794  he  performed  a  missionary  tour  of  four  months' 
duration  in  the  service  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  Con- 
necticut, to  the  new  settlements  in  New  York  State. 

In  June,  1801,  the  pastoral  relation  between  him  and 
the  people  of  Lyme  was  dissolved  by  mutual  consent;  and 


414  Yale  College 

in  September  following  he  received  an  appointment  from 
the  Missonary  Society  to  go  on  another  four  months' 
mission  in  New  York  State.  He  went  as  far  west  as  the 
Genesee  River,  and  subsequently  preached  for  several 
months  in  three  or  four  places,  from  each  of  which  he  had 
a  call  to  settle.  He  finally  accepted  the  call  from  Aurelius, 
in  Cayuga  County,  and  in  July,  1802,  brought  thither  his 
family  from  Connecticut,  and  settled  them  on  the  site  of 
the  present  city  of  Auburn,  which  was  then  included  in  the 
military  township  of  Aurelius.  On  October  6  he  was 
installed  pastor  of  the  church  by  a  council  of  Congrega- 
tional and  Presbyterian  ministers. 

In  1808  the  pastoral  relation  was  dissolved,  though  he 
continued  for  a  season  to  minister  to  the  church.  On 
December  7,  1812,  he  received  a  call  from  Bath,  in  Steuben 
County. 

In  January,  1813,  he  removed  his  family  to  Bath,  and 
on  July  i  was  installed  there  as  pastor.  Here  he  labored 
with  varying  success,  and  latterly  amid  considerable  dis- 
satisfaction;  until  in  1831,  on  June  21,  just  after  a  power- 
ful revival,  the  pastoral  relation  was  dissolved.  The 
church  at  his  dismission  numbered  one  hundred  and  seven- 
teen members. 

Mr.  Higgins  continued  in  the  same  vicinity  for  about 
four  years  longer,  preaching  regularly  for  most  of  the 
time. 

In  May,  1835,  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Norwalk, 
in  Huron  County,  Northern  Ohio.  Being  then  nearly  74 
years  of  age,  he  considered  himself  too  far  advanced  in 
life  to  take  the  charge  of  a  church,  but  because  of  the 
want  of  ministers  in  the  region,  he  continued  to  preach 
most  of  the  time  for  some  years  longer.  For  the  last  two 
years  of  his  life,  however,  he  preached  only  occasionally. 

On  Sunday,  June  19,  1842,  he  complained  of  not  feel- 
ing well,  but  attended  church  in  the  forenoon;  after 
dinner,  while  sitting  in  his  study  chair,  he  expired  without 
a  struggle,  being  in  his  8ist  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  415 

He  married  on  January  17,  1788,  Eunice,  daughter  of 
Deacon  James  and  Eunice  (Nichols)  Gilbert  of  New 
Haven.  She  died  in  Norwalk,  on  October  2,  1843,  m  her 
82d  year. 

By  universal  testimony  he  was  an  earnest  and  godly 
man.  He  published : 

1.  The  House  of  God  his  Habitation;  thither  his  People  will  come 
and  seek  him;    A  Sermon  preached  at  Marcellus  (N.  Y.)  at  the 
Dedication  of  a  house  for  public  worship,  in  Skaneateles  Village, 
March  i,  1809.     Manlius,  1809.     8°,  pp.  23.  [Brown  Univ. 

2.  The  Gathering  of  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  into  the  Church  of 
God. — A   Sermon    [from   Rom.   xi,    15],    delivered   before    "The 
Western  Religious  Tract  Society",  at  Homer,  N.  Y.  at  their  Annual 
Meeting,  June  5th,  181 1.     Auburn.    8°,  pp.  14.  [U.T.S. 

Largely  devoted  to  the  conversion  of  the  Jews. 

A  letter  from  him,  dated  February  14,  1803,  and  giving  an 
account  of  the  establishment  of  churches  in  Onondaga  and  Cayuga 
Counties,  is  published  in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine  for 
May,  1803,  pp.  438-39- 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,       Hist,  of  Western   N.   Y.,  46-50,  80, 
12.    Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  582.       265-71,   479.     Pre's.    Stiles,   Literary 
Fowler,    Hist,     of    the    Church    of       Diary,  iii,  119. 
Christ    in    Auburn,    3-4.     Hotchkin, 


DYAR  THROOP  HINCKLEY  was  a  native  of  Goshen 
Society,  in  Lebanon,  Connecticut.  His  mother  was  prob- 
ably a  sister  of  Dyar  Throop  (Yale  1759). 

He  united  with  the  College  Church,  on  profession  of 
faith,  in  July  of  his  Junior  year. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Windham  County  Association  of  Minis- 
ters on  May  18,  1790;  but  does  not  seem  to  have  con- 
tinued to  preach  for  any  length  of  time. 

His  life  was  mainly  spent  in  teaching,  and  in  that  occu- 
pation he  lived  in  various  places,  especially  on  Long  Island 
and  Staten  Island. 


416  Yale  College 

Later  he  returned  to  his  native  town,  and  was  occupied 
as  a  teacher  there  from  1832  to  1840. 

He  died  in  Lebanon  on  December  13,  1847,  aged  82 
years. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  81. 


WILLIAM  HUBBARD,  the  second  child  and  eldest  son  of 
Captain  William  Hubbard,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Daniel  Hubbard  (Yale  1727),  of  New  Lon- 
don, was  born  in  Norwich  on  December  10,  1767.  His 
mother  was  Lydia,  daughter  of  Captain  Joseph  and  Lydia 
(Lathrop)  Coit,  of  New  London. 

About  the  time  of  his  graduation  his  father  removed 
to  Boston,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits. 

The  son  made  several  voyages  to  Demerara  on  business ; 
but  died  in  Boston  on  September  10,  1789,  in  his  22d  year. 

His  cousin,  William  Leffingwell  (Yale  1786),  says  in  a 
letter  to  David  Daggett  (Yale  1783),  dated  at  Norwich, 
September  13,  1789:  "Our  friend  Bill  Hubbard  left  us  on 
Thursday  last  without  a  groan,  perfectly  compos'd  to  the 
last." 

AUTHORITIES. 
Hubbard  Hist,  and  Geneal.,  191.    Perkins,  Old  Houses  of  Norwich,  i,  44. 


WILLIAM  GOLD  HUBBARD,  the  eldest  surviving  son  of 
Levi  Hubbard,  of  Guilford  and  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
and  a  nephew  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bela  Hubbard  (Yale 
1758),  was  born  in  Guilford  on  June  16,  1766.  His 
mother  was  Anna,  eighth  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Hezekiah 
Gold  (Harvard  1719),  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  and 
sister  of  the  Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  (Yale  1751).  A 
younger  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1792. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  417 

•He  settled  in  New  Haven  as  a  merchant,  and  married 
Elizabeth  (or  Betsey),  only  child  of  Benjamin  Douglas 
(Yale  1760). 

He  died  in  New  Haven  on  February  18,  1846,  in  his  8oth 
year,  having  been  long  retired  from  business,  and  living 
at  his  place  on  "Cherry  Hill." 

His  wife  died  here  on  September  3,  1834,  in  her  6$th 
year. 

Their  children  were  two  sons  and  three  daughters,  of 
whom  one  daughter  survived  them.  The  sons  both  died 
while  members  of  Yale  College. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Douglas  Genealogy,  no,  206.     Gold,      Hist,  and  Geneal.,  256. 
Hist,    of    Cornwall,    289.     Hubbard 


DAVID  HULL,  the  fifth  son  of  Captain  Joseph  Hull,  of 
Derby,  Connecticut,  and  a  brother  of  General  William 
Hull  (Yale  1772),  was  born  in  Derby  on  March  27,  1765. 
At  the  end  of  his  Senior  year  he  failed  in  his  examina- 
tions, but  was  admitted  to  a  degree  by  special  favor  two 
days  after  Commencement. 

He  studied  medicine  with  a  distant  relative,  Dr.  Titus 
Hull,  of  Bethlehem,  Connecticut,  and  with  Dr.  William 
Eustis,  of  Boston ;  and  settled  in  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  where  he  had  a  career  of 
extensive  usefulness,  and  was  respected  and  beloved  by  a 
large  circle  of  fellow-citizens. 

He  died  in  Fairfield,  about  the  ist  of  January,  1834, 
in  his  69th  year.  (His  will  was  offered  for  probate  on 
January  6,  1834.) 

He  married  in  Boston,  on  November  10,  1789,  Susanna, 
fifth  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  Eliot,  of  Boston, 
and  sister  of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Eliot,  Jr.,  of  Fairfield. 
She  died  in  1832,  in  her  74th  year. 

They  left  two  daughters. 
27 


418  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Boston  Record  Commissioners'  Society's  Collections,  2d  series,  i,  229. 
Reports,  xxx,  87.  Clarke,  Life  of  Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Derby,  734-35. 
Gen.  Hull,  19-20.  Conn.  Med.  Schenck,  Hist,  of  Fairfield,  ii,  452. 
Society's  Proceedings,  1853,  49-50.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  181, 
Eliot  Genealogy,  172.  Mass.  Hist.  185.  Tuttle  Family,  662. 


ENOCH  HUNTINGTON,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Rev.  Enoch 
Huntington  (Yale  1759),  °f  Middletown,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  Middletown  on  October  19,  1767,  and  baptized 
by  his  father  six  days  later.  He  won  the  Berkeley 
Scholarship  at  graduation. 

He  studied  law  and  when  admitted  to  the  bar  estab- 
lished himself  in  Middetown,  where  he  spent  his  life. 
Having  superior  natural  talents,  he  soon  secured  an  exten- 
sive practice,  and  attained  eminence  in  his  profession,  by 
his  extensive  legal  acquirements  and  manly  eloquence. 

He  attained  the  rank  of  Colonel  in  the  militia. 

He  married,  on  November  6,  1791,  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Grove  and  Sarah  (Lord)  Ward,  of  Middletown,  and  step- 
daughter of  the  Hon.  Asher  Miller  (Yale  1780),  by  whom 
he  had  two  daughters  and  two  sons.  The  younger  daugh- 
ter married  William  E.  Hulbert  (Yale  1824)  ;  and  the 
younger  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1821. 

He  died  in  Middletown  on  March  7,  1826,  in  his  59th 
year.  His  wife  died  a  few  weeks  before  him,  on  February 
12,  aged  58  years. 

An  obituary  notice  in  the  Middlesex  Gazette  says  oi 
Colonel  Huntington: — 

His  manner  as  a  public  speaker  was  uncommonly  attractive. 
He  was  a  very  successful  advocate  and  during  his  professional 
career  was  engaged  in  many  cases  of  importance.  In  a  number  of 
criminal  cases  of  interest,  he  was  successful  in  his  gratuitous  exer- 
tions to  obtain  a  pardon,  and  in  others  to  obtain  a  postponement  of 
the  execution  of  the  final  sentence.  .  . 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,  ily,  174,  259-60.  Middlesex  Gazette, 
in.  Field,  Centennial  Address  at  March  15,  1826.  Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 
Middletown,  206.  Huntington  Fam-  ary  Diary,  ii,  557;  iii,  160. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  419 

SAMUEL  HUNTINGTON,  the  second  son  and  child  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Huntington  (Yale  1762),  of  Coventry, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Coventry  on  October  4,  1765. 
He  bore  the  name  of  his  childless  uncle,  Governor  Samuel 
Huntington,  of  Norwich,  and  was  adopted  and  educated 
by  him. 

He  entered  Dartmouth  College,  of  which  his  father  was 
a  trustee,  but  at  the  end  of  his  junior  year  he  trans- 
ferred his  relation  to  Yale.  His  classmate,  Enoch  Hunt- 
ington, was  his  first  cousin. 

He  married  in  Norwich,  on  December  20,  1791,  a  distant 
relative,  Hannah,  elder  daughter  of  Judge  Andrew  and 
Lucy  (Coit)  Huntington,  of  Norwich. 

In  1793  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Norwich,  and 
in  January,  1796,  his  uncle  died,  severing  the  tie  which  had 
detained  him  there. 

In  May  1801,  he  removed  to  Youngs  town,  Ohio,  and 
thence  a  little  later  to  Cleveland. 

He  was  immediately  introduced  into  public  life,  to  which 
the  remainder  of  his  days  were  devoted.  In  politics  he 
was  a  moderate  Republican,  but  retained  the  confidence 
of  the  Federalists. 

Governor  St.Clair  appointed  him  Lieutenant  Colonel 
of  the  First  Regiment  of  Militia  of  Trumbull  County.  In 
October,  1802,  he  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  State  Con- 
stitutional Convention. 

By  the  first  Assembly  of  the  State,  of  which  he  was  a 
Senator  and  the  Speaker,  he  was  appointed  in  April,  1803, 
one  of  the  three  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court;  and  in 
1804  he  was  made  Chief  Judge  by  the  Legislature. 

In  1805  he  removed  his  residence  to  Painesville. 

He  retained  his  Chief  Justiceship  until  elected  Governor 
of  the  State  in  1808  for  the  term  of  two  years. 

During  the  war  of  1812  he  was  District  Paymaster  in 
the  Northwestern  army,  with  the  rank  of  Colonel.  He 
was  tendered  the  office  of  Receiver  of  Public  Monies  at 


420  Yale  College 

Steubenville  by  President  Jefferson  and  also  that  of  Judge 
in  Michigan  Territory,  both  of  which  he  declined. 

He  died  in  Painesville  on  June  8,  1817,  in  his  52d  year. 
His  wife  died  on  November  21  (or  29),  1818,  in  her  49th 
year.  Their  children  were  five  sons  (of  whom  one  died 
in  infancy)  and  one  daughter. 

A  copy  of  his  portrait  is  given  in  Miss  Perkins's  Old 
Houses  of  Norwich. 

In  person  he  was  small,  but  exceedingly  active.  JHLis 
manners  were  affable,  though  somewhat  after  the  French 
style ;  in  business  his  habits  were  correct  and  efficient. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Chapman,  Coit  Family,  105.    Hunt-       Diary,    iii,     135.      Whittlesey,    Early 
ington  Family  Memoir,   171-72,  246,       Hist,  of  Cleveland,  382-84,  386,  400, 
255.    Perkins,  Old  Houses  of  Nor-      414-19,  423. 
wich,   i,  242.     Pres.   Stiles,  Literary 


ISAAC  IVES  was  a  son  of  John  Ives,  of  Wallingford, 
Connecticut,  and  a  grandson  of  John  and  Hannah 
(Royce)  Ives,  and  was  born  in  1764.  His  mother  was 
Mary,  eldest  child  of  Dr.  Isaac  and  Mary  (Morse)  Hall, 
of  Wallingford.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Levi  Silliman  Ives,  at  one 
time  Bishop  of  North  Carolina,  was  his  nephew. 

He  settled  in  Danbury,  Connecticut,  as  a  lawyer,  and 
married,  on  March  19,  1792,  Jerusha,  daughter  of  Zadock 
and  Jerusha  (Russell)  Benedict,  of  Danbury. 

Mr.  Benedict  was  a  pioneer  in  the  hat  trade  in  Danbury, 
and  in  this  way  Mr.  Ives  was  led  to  give  up  his  profession 
and  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  hat  manufacture. 

His  wife  died  on  August  18,  1795,  aged  23  years,  leav- 
ing one  daughter. 

He  soon  after  married  Miss  Sarah  Amelia  White,  of 
Danbury,  by  whom  he  had  one  son. 

In  1796  or  7  he  removed  to  New  York  City,  and  went 
into  the  hat  business  there,  but  returned  to  Danbury  about 
1828. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  421 

He  was  chosen  a  Deacon  in  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Danbury  in  1831  or  2. 

He  died  in  Danbury  on  June  10,  1845,  aged  82  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Benedict    Genealogy,    376.     Davis,      C.  Meserve,  MS.  Letter,  Febr.,  1907. 
Hist,  of  Wallingford,  829.    Rev.  H. 


CALEB  JOHNSON,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  Hezekiah 
Johnson,  of  Wallingford  and  Hamden,  Connecticut,  and 
nephew  of  Dr.  Abner  Johnson  (Yale  1759),  was  born  in 
Wallingford  on  July  18,  1759.  His  mother  was  Ruth, 
third  daughter  of  Caleb  and  Ruth  (Sedgwick)  Merriman, 
of  Wallingford. 

He  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Eastern  Association  of  New  Haven  County  on  May  28, 
1788. 

He  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Deer  Creek,  Harford  County,  Maryland, 
on  May  14,  1792;  but  in  November,  1794,  he  asked  to  be 
dismissed,  and  the  pastoral  relation  was  dissolved  on  April 

29,  1795- 

He  continued  to  reside  in  Deer  Creek,  and  in  1799  he 

with  three  other  members  of  the  Baltimore  Presbytery  was 
transferred  (for  reasons  of  locality)  to  the  New  Castle 
Presbytery.  In  April,  1802,  on  account  of  charges  derog- 
atory to  his  moral  character  (such  as  non-attendance 
on  public  worship,  presence  at  a  horse-race,  and  frequent 
use  of  the  expression  "By  the  Powers")  he  was  suspended 
by  the  Presbytery.  This  suspension  continued  until  Sep- 
tember, 1804,  when  he  was  restored  to  good  standing. 
Nine  years  later,  in  November,  1813,  the  Presbytery 
deemed  it  their  duty  to  suspend  him  again  from  the  exer- 
cise of  ministerial  functions,  on  account  of  his  unfavorable 
reputation.  On  further  investigation  it  was  found  that 
Mr.  Johnson  had  been  frequently  guilty  of  profane  and 


422  Yale  College 

very  indecent  language;  and  as  he  manifested  a  high 
degree  of  contumacy,  by  frequently  and  avowedly  declar- 
ing by  letter  his  intention  not  to  appear  before  Presbytery, 
the  Presbytery  finally,  on  September  27,  1814,  deposed 
him  from  the  ministry. 

He  died  not  long  after  this  vote. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Davis,  Hist,  of  Wallingford,  835.      372.    Rev.  M.  Newkirk,  MS.  Letter, 
N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,  lv,      Febr.  10,  1868. 


HENRY  SHERBURNE  LANGDON,  the  eldest  child  of  the 
Hon.  Woodbury  Langdon,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Ports- 
mouth, New  Hampshire,  and  grandson  of  John  and  Mary 
(Hall)  Langdon,  was  born  in  Portsmouth  on  February 
n,  1766.  His  mother  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  the  Hon. 
Henry  Sherburne  (Harvard  1728),  a  distinguished  mer- 
chant of  Portsmouth.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Buckminster  (Yale  1770),  of  Ports- 
mouth. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  John 
Pickering  (Harvard  1761),  of  Portsmouth,  and  began 
practice  there  in  1792,  but  did  not  long  follow  the 
profession. 

On  May  21,  1792,  he  married  Ann  (or  Nancy),  young- 
est daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Elizabeth  (Hill)  Eustis,  of 
Boston;  her  brother,  Governor  William  Eustis,  after- 
wards (in  1810)  married  one  of  Mr.  Langdon's  sisters. 

In  1 80 1  he  was  elected  a  representative  in  the  State 
Legislature.  When  the  New  Hampshire  Union  Bank  in 
Portsmouth  was  chartered  in  1802,  he  became  its  Cashier, 
and  so  continued  until  1815,  when  he  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  Agent  at  the  Portsmouth  Navy  Yard. 

His  wife  died  in  Portsmouth  on  March  23,  1818,  at  the 
age  of  47,  having  borne  him  nine  sons  and  five  daughters. 

One  son  was  killed  in  the  War  of  1812.  Another  son 
was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1812.  The  deaths 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  423 

of  his  wife  and  several*  children  and  other  misfortunes  led 
him  to  withdraw  from  both  business  and  society,  and  the 
rest  of  his  life  was  passed  in  almost  entire  seclusion. 

His  last  years  were  spent  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
in  great  infirmity,  and  he  died  there  on  July  21,  1857,  in 
his  92d  year.  He  was  buried  in  Portsmouth. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bell,  Bench  and  Bar  of  N.  Hamp-       Family,  xlv.    Wentworth  Genealogy, 
shire,    481.     N.    England    Hist,    and       i,  329. 
Geneal.  Register,  xxxii,  208.     Tuttle 


JONATHAN  LEAVITT,  the  eldest  son  and  second  child  of 
the  Rev.  Jonathan  Leavitt  (Yale  1758),  was  born  in  Wai- 
pole,  New  Hampshire,  on  February  27,  1764.  In  the  year 
of  his  birth  his  father  was  dismissed  from  his  charge  in 
Walpole,  and  his  boyhood  was  spent  in  Charlemont, 
Massachusetts.  He  united  with  the  College  Church  on 
profession  of  his  faith  in  July  of  his  Senior  year. 

On  graduation  he  took  charge,  in  connection  with  his 
classmate,  Bidwell,  of  a  school  for  young  ladies  in  New 
Haven ;  meantime  he  read  law  with  Judge  Charles  Chaun- 
cey,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  here  in  November,  1788. 

He  settled  in  1789  as  a  lawyer  in  Greenfield,  Massachu- 
setts, where  he  had  a  long  and  distinguished  career. 

He  was  Judge  of  Probate  from  1814  to  his  resignation 
in  July,  1821,  and  in  June,  1811,  was  appointed  an 
Associate  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the 
Western  Circuit  of  Massachusetts. 

He  resigned  this  office  also  on  account  of  ill-health 
and  depression  resulting  from  his  only  son's  death,  in  1821. 

In  1816  he  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  formation  of  a 
new  Congregational  Church  in  Greenfield,  in  which  he 
served  as  Deacon  until  his  death.  He  had  previously  held 
the  same  office  in  the  First  Church,  from  May,  1799. 

He  was  chosen  the  first  president  of  the  Franklin  Bank 
of  Greenfield,  in  March,  1822,  but  resigned  the  following 
year. 


424  Yale  College 

Judge  Leavitt  died  in  Greenfield  on  May  i,  1831,  in  his 
68th  year. 

He  married,  in  Deer  field,  Massachusetts,  on  April  21, 
1796,  Emilia  (or  Amelia),  third  daughter  of  President 
Ezra  Stiles  (Yale  1746),  who  died  in  Greenfield  on 
November  7,  1833,  in  her  72d  year. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  two  sons. 
One  son  died  in  infancy,  and  one  while  a  Junior  in  Yale 
College  (Class  of  1822).  One  daughter  married  the  Rev. 
Charles  Jenkins  (Williams  College  1813). 

He  published: 

1.  A  Summary  of  the  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  relative  to  the 
settlement,  support,  employment  and  removal  of  Paupers.     Green- 
field, 1810.     8°,  pp.  64. 

•  [A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    M.  H.  S.     U  S. 

2.  A  Letter  from  a  Trinitarian  to  a  Unitarian:    dated  at  Green- 
field, August,  1820.     Greenfield,  1820.     12°,  pp.  16.  [F.  C. 

The   title-page    is    anonymous,    but    the    signature     "J-    L."     is 
appended. 

3.  Thoughts  on  the  Gospel  Message;    and  the  duty  of  all  who 
cordially  receive  it,  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  it,  as   far  as  in 
them  lies.    Greenfield,  1826.    8°,  pp.  20.  [F.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  614.       Hist,  of  Greenfield,  i,  299,  311,  483, 
Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  ii,       616-17,    720,    779-80,    783,    967,    973, 
564;    iii,  81,  325,  566.    H.  R.  Stiles,       1064,  1069,  1189. 
Stiles  Genealogy,  209-10.    Thompson, 


MICAH  JONES  LYMAN,  the  second  and  oldest  surviving 
son  of  Elisha  and  Abigail  (Jones)  Lyman,  of  Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Joseph  and  Abigail 
(Lewis)  Lyman,  of  Northampton,  was  born  in  that  town 
on  October  17,  1767. 

He  taught  school  after  graduation,  and  studied  medi- 
cine with  Dr.  Ebenezer  Hunt  (Harvard  Coll.  1764), 
a  distinguished  physician  of  Northampton. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  42S 

He  settled  in  1790  in  Bennington,  Vermont,  and  con- 
ducted a  flourishing  business  as  a  druggist,  being  for  part 
of  the  time  also  Postmaster.  On  January  19,  1794,  he 
married  Elizabeth,  eldest  child  of  Benjamin  and  Elizabeth 
(Hunt)  Sheldon,  of  Northampton. 

About  1810  he  removed  to  Montreal,  Canada,  but  on 
the  declaration  of  war,  in  June,  1812,  he  came  to  Troy, 
New  York,  and  opened  a  drug  store  there,  with  his  two 
eldest  sons  as  partners.  His  wife  died  there  on  February 
3,  1834,  in  her  68th  year. 

He  retired  from  business  in  1842,  and  in  November, 
1850,  took  up  his  residence  with  his  second  son  in  Ben- 
nington, where  he  died  on  December  20,  1851,  in  his  85th 
year. 

While  residing  in  Troy  he  united  with  the  First  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Bennington,  as  a  matter  of 
principle,  being  too  rigid  a  Congregationalist  to  join  a 
church  of  another  denomination  in  the  place  of  his 
residence. 

His  children  were  four  sons  and  one  daughter.  The 
daughter  and  the  youngest  son  died  in  childhood. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Coleman,    Lyman    Family,    396-97.       Memorials  of  Bennington,  317. 
Hunt  Genealogy,  180,  225.     Jennings, 


JOHN  MCCLELLAN,  the  eldest  child  of  General  Samuel 
McClellan,  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  and  Woodstock, 
Connecticut,  by  his  second  wife,  Rachel  Abbe,  was  born  in 
Woodstock  on  January  4,  1767.  His  mother  was  a  sister 
of  Shubael  Abbe  (Yale  1764). 

He  was  intimate  with  his  classmate,  Samuel  Hunting- 
ton  who  was  a  nephew  and  adopted  son  of  Governor 
Samuel  Huntington,  of  Norwich,  and  joined  him  after 
graduation  in  the  study  of  law  with  the  Governor,  in  whose 
family  he  remained  for  two  years. 


426  Yale  College 

He  then  entered  the  office  of  Charles  Church  Chandler 
(Harvard  College  1763),  a  highly  distinguished  lawyer  of 
Woodstock,  who  died  suddenly  in  August,  1787,  only  a  few 
weeks  after  Mr.  McClellan  had  come  under  his  instruction. 

At  a  Court  held  in  the  same  month  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  settled  in  his  native  town,  succeeding  to  Mr. 
Chandler's  practice. 

In  1796  he  married  Faith,  only  daughter  of  the  Hon. 
William  and  Mary  (Trumbull)  Williams,  of  Lebanon, 
born  September  15,  1774,  and  became  thus  allied  with  two 
distinguished  families. 

Between  1792  and  1824  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
State  Legislature  for  about  thirty  sessions,  and  was  once 
chosen  as  Presidential  Elector.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1818. 

He  enjoyed  a  reasonable  degree  of  prosperity  in  his 
profession  until  June,  1849,  when  he  was  disabled  by  a 
paralytic  stroke. 

He  lingered  for  more  than  nine  years  with  remarkable 
patience  and  cheerfulness  in  a  helpless  state,  and  died  in 
Woodstock,  on  August  4,  1858,  in  his  92d  year.  He  was 
the  last  survivor  of  his  class,  and  had  outlived  all  gradu- 
ates of  earlier  classes. 

Isaac  Webb  (Yale  1822)  married  one  of  his  daughters, 
and  after  her  death  married  her  sister ;  she  survived  him, 
and  subsequently  married  Professor  Benjamin  Silliman 
(Yale  1796). 

His  diary  on  a  journey  to  Albany  in  1788  has  been 
printed  in  The  Connecticut  Magazine  for  1905,  pp.  185-89. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Lamed,  Hist,  of  Windham  County,       Genealogy,     19.      Williams     Family, 
ii,  364.      Weaver,  Ancient  Windham       180. 


MATTHEW  MARVIN,  the  second  child  and  elder  son  of 
Deacon  Matthew  Marvin,  of  Wilton,  then  a  parish  in 
Norwalk,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Captain  Matthew 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  427 

and  Elizabeth  (Clark)  Marvin,  of  Wilton,  was  born  on 
January  3,  1764,  and  baptized  two  months  later,  on  March 
18.  His  mother  was  Deborah,  daughter  of  Nathan  and 
Deborah  (Curtis)  Bennett,  of  Stratford.  He  was  pre- 
pared for  College  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Lewis 
(Yale  1765). 

After  graduation  he  at  first  purposed  to  study  medicine, 
but  on  account  of  the  state  of  his  health  went  instead  into 
business  in  Hudson,  New  York.  He  returned  to  Wilton 
on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1791,  and  for  twenty-five 
years  further  engaged  with  remarkable  success  in  mercan- 
tile affairs. 

For  the  remainder  of  his  life  he  was  active  in  public  and 
especially  in  Church  matters. 

He  represented  Norwalk  and  afterwards  Wilton  in  the 
General  Assembly  in  fourteen  .sessions  from  1796  to  1816. 
He  was  for  a  long  time  a  magistrate,  and  in  1798-99  (as 
long  as  he  would  consent  to  hold  the  office)  one  of  the 
Judges  of  the  Fairfield  County  Court.  He  was  also  Judge 
of  the  Probate  Court  established  at  Norwalk  in  1802;  and 
a  Deacon  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Wilton  for 
many  years  before  his  death. 

Not  having  a  robust  constitution,  and  being  unambi- 
tious, he  avoided  rather  than  sought  public  employments, 
and  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  wholly  declined  them.  He 
died  in  Wilton  on  June  6,  1842,  in  his  79th  year. 

He  married,  on  April  7,  1792,  Nancy,  daughter  of 
Colonel  Stephen  and  Ann  (Fitch)  St.  John,  of  Norwalk, 
by  whom  he  had  three  sons  (of  whom  the  second  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1823)  and  two  daughters.  She  died 
in  Wilton  on  September  28,  1808,  in  her  4Oth  year,  and  he 
next  married,  on  May  15,  1810,  Esther  (Boardman), 
widow  of  Jonathan  Burrall  (Yale  1781),  of  Canaan,  Con- 
necticut, who  survived  him,  dying  on  October  25,  1851, 
in  her  9Oth  year. 

Deacon  Marvin,  or  Esquire  Marvin,  as  he  was  more 
frequently  called,  was  tall,  well-proportioned,  dignified 


428  Yale  College 

and  courteous  in  manner,  active,  clear-headed,  and  reso- 
lute. He  exercised  a  salutary  influence  in  the  town  by 
his  natural  gifts  and  the  very  ample  means  at  his  disposal. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Boardman  Genealogy,  333-34.   Mar-       bury,  Family  Histories  and  Geneal- 
vin  Family,  342.     New  Haven  Daily       ogies,  iii,  103-04.    Schroeder,  Memoir 
Palladium,     June     9,      1842.       150th       of  Mrs.  Boardman,  405-07.     Selleck 
Anniversary  of  the  Wilton  Congre-       Norwalk,  i,  143. 
gational    Church,   71-72,    104.     Salis-  * 


CHARLES  MATHER,  the  eldest  child  of  Dr.  Charles 
Mather  (Yale  1763),  of  East,  now  South  Windsor,  Con- 
necticut, was  born  on  November  30,  1765. 

He  studied  medicine  with  his  father,  and  entered  on 
practice  in  his  native  village,  but  was  at  no  time  much 
engrossed  in  business. 

He  eventually  removed  to  New  York  City,  where  he  died 
at  the  house  of  a  son  on  October  22,  1853,  aged  nearly 
88  years. 

By  his  wife  Mary  he  had  five  sons  and  three  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Mather  Family,   1890,    143.     Stiles,       Trumbull,  Memorial  Hist,  of  Hart- 
Hist.  of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  486-87.       ford  County,  ii,  124. 


RETURN  JONATHAN  MEIGS,  the  eldest  child  of  Colonel 
Return  Jonathan  and  Joanna  Meigs,  of  Middletown,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Return  and  Elizabeth  (Hamlin) 
Meigs,  of  Middletown,  was  born  in  Middletown  on  Novem- 
ber 17,  1764.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Prince  and 
Mary  (Rogers)  Winborn,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and 
Middletown.  He  entered  College  at  the  end  of  the 
January  vacation  in  Freshman  year. 

He  studied  law,  and  in  1788  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
In  the  same  year  he  married  Sophia  Wright,  and  emi- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  429 

grated  with  his  father  to  Marietta,  Ohio,  where  he 
engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession  and  in  farming. 
He  was  also  the  first  postmaster  of  the  town. 

On  the  organization  of  the  Ohio  State  Government  in 
1803  he  was  elected  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
but  retained  the  position  only  until  October,  1804,  when 
he  received  the  appointment  of  Colonel  and  Commandant 
of  the  Upper  District  of  Louisiana,  which  included  the 
greater  part  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

In  1805  he  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Upper  Louisiana, — a  position  more  congenial  to  his 
tastes.  While  serving  as  Judge  his  health  gave  way,  and 
he  returned  to  Marietta  in  1806  temporarily  enfeebled. 

In  April,  1807,  he  was  commissioned  as  Judge  of  the 
District  Court  of  Michigan  Territory.  He  resigned  his 
commission  in  October,  on  accepting  the  candidacy  for 
the  governorship  of  Ohio.  After  an  exciting  campaign 
he  was  found  to  have  received  a  majority  of  the 
votes,  but  his  election  was  successfully  contested  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  not  been  a  resident  of  the  State  as 
required  by  law.  His  popularity  was,  however,  unim- 
paired, and  he  was  at  once  elected  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  in  September  following  was  chosen  as  a 
Democrat  to  fill  an  unexpired  term  of  two  months  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  He  was  then  elected  for  a  full 
term,  but  continued  in  the  Senate  from  January,  1809, 
only  until  May,  1810,  after  which  he  was  elected  Governor 
of  the  State. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  first  term  he  was  re-elected  by 
an  increased  majority;  but  before  the  expiration  of  his 
second  term  he  was  called,  in  March,  1814,  into  President 
Madison's  cabinet  as  Postmaster-General. 

This  important  position  he  retained  under  Madison  and 
Monroe,  until  his  resignation,  in  June,  1823,  on  account 
of  declining  health. 

He  then  retired  to  his  home  in  Marietta,  where  he  died 
on  March  29,  1825,  in  his  6ist  year. 


43°  Yale  College 

His  wife  survived  him,  as  did  also  their  only  daughter, 
who  married  the  Hon.  John  G.  Jackson,  a  Member  of 
Congress  from  Virginia. 

His  portrait  is  copied  in  the  Meigs  Genealogy,  and  also 
in  the  Green  Bag,  volume  7. 

He  was  tall  and  finely  formed,  with  a  high  retreating 
forehead,  black  eyes,  and  prominent  aquiline  nose.  His 
moral  character  was  above  reproach. 

He  published: 

A  Poem  spoken  in  the  Chapel  of  Yale-College,  at  the  Quarterly 
Exhibitions,  March  Qth,  1784.  New-Haven.  8°,  pp.  16. 

[B.  Ath.     Y.  C. 

His  official  papers  as  Governor  and  as  Postmaster-General  do 
not  call  for  enumeration. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.   Historical  Record,  ii,  280-  51-52,  220-23.     New  Haven  Colony 

81.    Artier.  Pioneer,  2d  ed.,  i,  28-30.  Hist.  Society's  Papers,  i,  39-40.     Pres. 

Green  Bag,  vii,  106.     Hildreth,  Pio-  Stiles,    Literary    Diary,    iii,    3,    116. 

neer  History,  269-70,  312-15.    Howe,  Wilcox,  Descendants  of  W.  Wilcox- 

Hist.  Collections  of  Ohio,  Centennial  son,  etc.,  34,  38-39. 
ed.,  iii,  504-05.    Meigs  Genealogy,  35, 


PHINEAS  MILLER,  the  eldest  child  of  Isaac  Miller,  of 
Middlefield  Parish,  in  Middletown,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Benjamin  and  Hannah  (Robinson)  Miller, 
of  Middlefield,  was  born  on  January  22,  1764.  His 
mother  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  Deacon  Joseph  and 
Abigail  (Curtiss)  Coe,  of  Middlefield. 

He  was  obliged  to  leave  College  at  the  opening  of  the 
Sophomore  year  on  account  of  illness,  but  resumed  his 
place  in  the  Class  in  the  following  April. 

He  is  said  to  have  studied  medicine,  but  early  became 
a  planter  on  Cumberland  Island,  at  the  southeastern 
extremity  of  Georgia.  He  was  also  a  Justice  of  the 
Camden  County  Court,  and  a  State  Senator,  at  the  time  of 
his  death. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  431 

He  died  at  Dungeness,  his  plantation  on  Cumberland 
Island,  on  December  7,  1803,  aged  nearly  40  years. 

He  was  married  in  Philadelphia,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Ewing,  on  May  31,  1796,  to  Catharine,  daughter  of  John 
Littleneld,  of  New  Shoreham,  Block  Island,  and  widow  of 
General  Nathanael  Greene,  the  famous  Revolutionary 
soldier,  who  died  in  1786.  She  died  in  Dungeness,  on 
September  2,  1814,  aged  59  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Atkins,    Hist,    of    Middlefield,    36.       of  R.  I.,  205-06.    Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 
Coe-Ward     Memorial,     118.       Conn.       ary  Diary,  iii,  46,  68,  329. 
Journal,  Jan.  12,  1804.     The  Greenes 


DANIEL  NASH,  the  youngest  of  nine  children  of  Jona- 
than Nash,  of  Great  Barrington,  Massachusetts,  and 
grandson  of  Daniel  and  Experience  (Clark)  Nash,  of 
Northampton,  South  Hadley,  and  Great  Barrington,  was 
born  on  May  28,  1763.  His  mother  was  Anna  Maria 
Spoor,  of  Taghkanick,  in  Livingston  Manor,  Columbia 
County,  New  York.  He  united  with  the  College  Church 
on  profession  of  faith  in  July  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

He  is  reported  to  have  studied  theology  after  graduation 
with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins  (Yale  1741),  of  New- 
port, Rhode  Island;  but  this  is  doubtful.  It  is  certain 
that  he  spent  a  long  series  of  years  before  1794  in  teach- 
ing, in  Pittsgrove  and  Swedesboro,  New  Jersey.  During 
the  last  year  of  this  employment  he  was  an  assistant  in  the 
academy  conducted  by  the  Rev.  John  Croes,  Rector  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  Swedesboro,  under  whom  he  pursued 
theological  studies. 

In  the  spring  of  1794  he  took  charge  of  an  academy 
in  New  Lebanon  Springs,  New  York,  and  also  acted  as 
lay  reader  to  the  Episcopal  Church  there.  In  January, 
1796,  he  married  Olive  Lusk,  of  Richmond,  Massachusetts. 

He  was  ordained  Deacon,  by  Bishop  Provoost,  in  New 
York  City,  on  February  8,  1797,  and  removed  immediately 


43 2  Yale  College 

to  Otsego  County,  as  a  pioneer  missionary  to  Western 
New  York,  and  in  this  self-denying  service  the  rest  of  his 
useful  life  was  spent.  He  was  ordained  priest  by  Bishop 
Moore,  in  New  York  City,  on  October  n,  1801. 

"Father  Nash,"  as  he  was  universally  known,  was  the 
principal,  and  for  many  years  the  only,  Episcopal  minister 
in  Otsego  and  the  adjacent  counties,  and  organized  many 
parishes,  while  not  for  the  most  part  a  settled  rector.  He 
continued  until  the  last  his  laborious  and  ill-paid  itinerant 
service,  with  the  esteem  of  all  good  men. 

His  wife  died  while  on  a  visit  in  Exeter,  Otsego  County, 
on  May  27,  1828,  in  her  57th  year. 

Father  Nash  died  suddenly,  from  dropsy  of  the  chest, 
in  Burlington,  Otsego  County,  at  the  house  of  his  eldest 
daughter,  on  June  4,  1836,  aged  73  years.  He  is  buried 
in  Cooperstown,  in  front  of  Christ  Church,  which  he 
gathered,  and  of  which  he  was  the  first  Rector  (from 
January  I,  1811). 

His  children  were  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of 
whom  survived  him,  except  the  youngest  son,  who  died  in 
infancy. 

His  portrait  is  engraved  in  The  Nash  Family. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bp.    P.    Chase,    Reminiscences,    i,       Spraguc,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit, 
32-34.      Nash     Family,     57,     96-103.       v,  433-4O. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  78. 


ROGER  NEWTON,  Junior,  was  the  eldest  and  favorite  son 
of  the  Rev.  Roger  Newton  (Yale  1758),  of  Greenfield, 
Massachusetts. 

His  scholarship  in  College  was  distinguished,  and  a 
tradition  has  been  preserved  in  the  family  that  after  he 
had  failed  of  obtaining  the  Berkeley  Scholarship  in  May  of 
his  Senior  year,  his  classmates  by  a  popular  subscription 
presented  him  with  a  valuable  suit  of  clothes,  as  a  com- 
pensation for  the  supposed  injustice  of  the  award. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  433 

After  graduation  he  returned  home  and  for  some  time 
pursued  general  studies,  especially  in  history  and  the  laws 
of  nature  and  nations.  He  then  settled  to  the  study  of 
law,  with  the  expectation  of  practicing  in  his  native  State. 

While  thus  engaged  he  was  elected  a  Tutor  in  the 
College  at  Commencement  in  1788,  and  entered  on  the 
duties  of  that  office  in  October. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  ensuing  winter  he  suffered 
from  a  succession  of  severe  colds,  and  after  arriving  at  his 
home  for  the  May  vacation  he  was  attacked  with  bleeding 
at  the  lungs,  followed  by  other  symptoms  of  pulmonary 
disease,  which  resulted  in  his  death,  in  Greenfield,  on 
August  8,  1789,  in  his  26th  year.  A  funeral  Oration  by 
his  classmate  and  fellow-Tutor,  Mr.  Bidwell,  was  delivered 
in  the  College  Chapel  on  September  2,  and  was  afterwards 
published.  

AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Journal,  August  19,  1789.  Thompson,  Hist,  of  Greenfield,  i, 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  129,  462,  721,  724.  Yale  Literary  Maga- 
160,  251,  331,  354,  357,  363,  365-  zine,  xviii,  77-7& 


MATTHEW  NOYES,  a  son  of  Judge  William  Noyes,  of 
Lyme,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  that  town  about  1764. 
Two  brothers  were  graduated  here,  in  1775  and  1781 
respectively. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Josiah  Whitney  (Yale  1752),  of  Brooklyn,  Connecticut, 
and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Middlesex  Association 
of  Ministers  on  September  3,  1788. 

In  March,  1790,  he  began  preaching  in  Northford 
Society  in  North  Branford,  Connecticut,  and  in  May  he 
was  called  to  the  pastorate,  on  a  salary  of  £90.  He 
accepted,  and  on  August  18  he  was  ordained  Pastor.  The 
sermon  on  the  occasion,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elizur  Goodrich 
(Yale  1752),  was  afterwards  published. 

His  labors  as  pastor  were  suspended  in  1833,  though  his 

formal  dismission  was  delayed  until  the  installation  of  his 

28 


434  Yale  College 

successor  on  December  i,  1835.  In  this  period  of  over 
forty-five  years,  there  were  two  hundred  and  one  additions 
to  the  membership  of  the  church. 

He  died  in  Northford  on  September  23,  1839,  in  his 
76th  year. 

He  was  chosen  a  Fellow  at  Yale  College  in  May,  1823, 
and  continued  in  office  until  his  death. 

He  was  reputed  to  be  among  the  richest  ministers  in 
Connecticut  in  his  generation. 

He  married,  on  November  7,  1790,  Mary,  youngest 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  Johnson  (Yale  1743),  of 
Lyme,  Connecticut,  who  died  in  Northford  on  September 
i,  1851,  aged  83  years.  Their  only  child,  a  daughter, 
died  in  early  womanhood. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  Hist.       Genealogies,     ii,     350-51 ;      iii,     144. 
of  Conn.,  319,  450.     Noyes  Geneal-      Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pul- 
ogy,     ii,     162.       Pierce,     Historical       pit,    i,    513.     Pres.    Stiles.    Literary 
Discourse      at      Northford,      15-16.       Diary,  iii,  401. 
Salisbury,     Family     Histories     and 


ZACHARIAH  OLMSTED,  the  youngest  child  of  John  and 
Abigail  (Cone)  Olmsted,  of  Westchester  Society,  in 
Colchester,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  John  Olmsted, 
of  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  October  4, 
1763. 

His  life  was  spent  in  his  native  parish,  as  a  lawyer  and 
farmer,  and  he  died  there,  on  December  26,  1831,  in  his 
69th  year. 

He  married,  on  October  25,  1800,  Elizabeth  (or  Betsey) 
Clark,  of  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  who  died  on  April  9, 
1860,  in  her  84th  year.  Their  children  were  four  sons 
and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom  lived  to  maturity;  the 
youngest  son  became  a  clergyman  in  New  Hampshire. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Loomis  Female  Genealogy,  i,  20,  26-27.     Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  ii,  999. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  435 

BENJAMIN  PERKINS  was  born  in  Lisbon,  then  a  parish 
in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  on  April  2,  1763,  the  second  son 
of  Joseph  and  Joanna  (Burnham)  Perkins,  and  grandson 
of  Dr.  Joseph  Perkins  (Yale  1727),  of  Lisbon.  Two 
brothers  were  graduated  at  Yale,  one  in  1786,  and  one  in 
1787. 

Soon  after  leaving  College  he  emigrated  to  South  Caro- 
lina, and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1787.  In  1788  he 
settled  in  Camden,  and  continued  in  full  practice  for  some 
twenty  years. 

About  1795  he  married  Sarah,  second  daughter  of 
Colonel  Joseph  and  Sarah  (Mathis)  Kershaw,  of  Camden, 
who  died  in  1824,  aged  49  years.  Through  her  he 
acquired  considerable  landed  property,  and  after  his  retire- 
ment from  the  bar  he  lived  on  his  plantation  on  the 
Wateree  River  near  Camden. 

He  died  on  April  6,  1841,  aged  78  years. 

He  had  a  family  of  ten  children. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Kirkland    and   Kennedy,    Historic      and  Geneal.  Register,  xiv,  115.     Per- 
Camden,  i,  380,  393-95.    N.  E.  Hist.       kins  Family,  Pt.  3,  28. 


SAMUEL  PERKINS,  the  youngest  child  of  Matthew 
Perkins,  of  Hanover  Society,  in  Lisbon,  Connecticut,  and 
a  brother  of  Enoch  Perkins  (Yale  1781),  was  born  in 
Lisbon  on  September  13,  1767.  His  classmate,  Benja- 
min Perkins,  was  the  son  of  his  first  cousin.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  College  Church  on  professon  of  his  faith 
in  August  of  his  Sophomore  year.  At  graduation  he 
delivered  a  Greek  Oration,  and  on  taking  his  Master's 
degree  he  delivered  the  Valedictory. 

After  leaving  College  he  studied  theology  with  his 
brother,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Perkins,  of  West  Hartford, 
and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  County 


436  Yale  College 

Association  on  May  30,  1787;  but  after  preaching  for 
about  a  year,  he  abandoned  the  profession  on  account  of 
his  health,  and  subsequently  studied  law. 

He  settled  in  practice  in  Windham,  Connecticut,  where 
he  spent  the  rest  of  his  long  life,  honored  and  esteemed. 

He  was  a  Deacon  in  the  village  church  from  1796  until 
his  death. 

He  died  in  Windham  on  September  22,  1850,  at  the  age 
of  83  years. 

He  married,  on  February  24,  1793,  Anna  (or  Nancy), 
third  daughter  of  Solomon  and  Anna  (Denison)  Hunting- 
ton,  of  Windham,  who  died  on  April  17,  1829,  aged  59 
years. 

Their  children  were  two  daughters  and  two  sons.  The 
younger  son  died  in  infancy,  and  the  elder  was  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1817.  The  elder  daughter  married  Sherman 
Converse  (Yale  1813),  and  the  younger  married  Edwards 
Clarke  (Yale  1815). 

He  published : 

1.  A  History  of  the  political  and  military  events  of  the  late  War 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.     New-Haven,  1825. 
8°,  pp,  512. 

[A.  A.  S.     Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

U.  S.     Y.  C. 
A  popular  sketch,  of  some  merit. 

2.  Address    delivered   before   the    Peace    Society   of   Windham 
County,  at  their  semi-annual  meeting  in  Pom  fret,  February   14^ 
1827.     Brooklyn.     8°,  pp.  20. 

[Bowdoin  Coll.     C.  H.  S.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     U.  S. 

3.  General  Jackson's  Conduct  in  the  Seminole  War,  delineated 
in  a  History  of  that  period,  affording  conclusive  reasons  why  he 
should  not  be  the  next  President.      Brooklyn,  Con.      1828.      8°, 
pp.  39.  [Brit.  Mus.    M.  H.  S.    U.  S. 

This  pamphlet  consists  of  "Extracts  from  a  History  of  the 
United  States,  from  1812  to  1827,  Vol.  2,  Chap.  5." 

4.  Historical  Sketches  of  the  United  States,  from  the  Peace  of 
1815  to  1830.     New  York,  1830.     12°,  pp.  444. 

[B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  437 

In  continuation  of  the  author's  History  of  the  War  of  1812. 

5.  The  World  as  It  Is:  containing  a  View  of  the  Present 
Condition  of  the  Principal  Nations  .  .  With  Anecdotes  of  dis- 
tinguished characters.  2d  Edition.  [Hartford.]  1837.  12°,  pp. 
457  +  pl-  [U.S. 

The  same.     5th  Edition.     [Hartford.]    1840.     8°,  pp.  460. 

The  same.     6th  Edition.     [Hartford.]  1841.  [A.  C.  A. 


AUTHORITIES. 

American  Ancestry,  v,  8.  Hunt-  kins  Family,  Pt.  3,  22,  41-42.  Pres. 
ington  Family,  180.  N.  E.  Hist,  and  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  89,  184, 
Geneal.  Register,  xiv,  115,  119.  Per-  265,  329. 


TIMOTHY  PITKIN,  the  sixth  child  and  youngest  son  of 
the  Rev.  Timothy  Pitkin  (Yale  1747),  of  Farmington, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Farmington  on  January  21,  1766. 
He  was  prepared  for  College  under  his  father  and  his 
brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Perkins,  of  West 
Hartford.  His  scholarship  was  excellent,  and  he  was 
selected  to  give  the  Latin  Salutatory  Oration  at  gradua- 
tion. 

He  decided  at  an  early  age  upon  the  profession  of  the 
law,  and  after  teaching  for  a  year  in  the  academy  at  Plain- 
field,  Connecticut,  he  studied  with  the  Hon.  Oliver  Ells- 
worth, of  Windsor,  and  with  Major  William  Judd  (Yale 
1763),  of  Farmington,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Hartford  County  in  1788. 

In  May,  1790,  at  the  age  of  24,  he  was  chosen  a  Repre- 
sentative in  the  General  Assembly,  and  served  also  at 
twenty- two  more  sessions  between  that  date  and  1805. 
For  the  last  three  years  of  his  service  he  was  Speaker  of 
the  House. 

In  1805  he  was  elected  a  Representative  in  Congress  as 
a  Federalist,  and  continued  in  that  office  until  1819,  when 
in  consequence  of  a  violent  upheaval  in  Connecticut 
politics,  he  and  his  colleagues  were  superseded.  Dur- 
ing this  period  he  published  the  first  and  second  editions 


438  Yale  College 

of  his  valuable  Statistical  View  of  the  Commerce  of  the 
United  States.  Of  the  second  edition  two  hundred  and 
fifty  copies  were  taken  by  Congress  for  the  use  of  the 
Government.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  which 
framed  the  new  State  Constitution  in  1818. 

After  leaving  Congress  he  was  engaged  in  his  profes- 
sional pursuits,  and  in  literary  work.  He  was  also  at  once 
re-elected  to  the  Connecticut  Legislature  and  retained  his 
post  for  twelve  years,  until  1830.  During  this  period 
his  Political  and  Civil  History  of  the  United  States 
appeared,  in  recognition  of  which  Yale  gave  him  in  1829 
the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  In  1826  he  pro- 
posed to  set  up  a  Law  School  in  Farmington,  but  the 
experiment  was  not  successful.  In  1830  he  retired  from 
all  public  business,  and  soon  after  relinquished  his  profes- 
sional pursuits,  devoting  his  time  to  a  careful  revision  of 
his  private  papers  and  to  historical  composition. 

In  1840  he  gave  up  the  cares  of  housekeeping,  and 
thenceforwards  divided  his  time  between  his  second 
daughter,  the  wife  of  Judge  Hiram  Denio,  of  Utica,  and 
his  youngest  son.  He  died  at  his  son's  house  in  New 
Haven,  on  December  18,  1847,  aged  nearly  82  years,  and 
was  buried  here. 

He  married,  on  June  6,  1801,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Bela  Hubbard  (Yale  1758),  of  New  Haven,  who 
died  at  the  residence  of  her  youngest  and  only  surviving 
son,  in  Albany,  New  York,  on  October  17,  1858,  aged 
nearly  81  years. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  three  sons. 
The  youngest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1836,  and  the 
eldest  at  West  Point  Military  Academy  in  1826. 

A  photograph  of  his  portrait  is  given  in  the  Pitkin 
Genealogy. 

He  published : 

i.  Motion  [in  Congress,  concerning  the  amount  of  duties  on 
imports  and  tonnage,  1789-1810],  December  236,  1811.  Washing- 
ton City,  1811.  8°,  pp.  4.  [Brit.  Mus.  U.  S. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  439 

2.  Speech  on  the  Loan  Bill,  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, February  loth,  1814.     In  Committee  of  the  Whole.     On  the 
Question  to  fill  the  Blank  in  the  Bill  with  Twenty-five  Millions  of 
Dollars.     Alexandria,  1814.     8",  pp.  19. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Harv.     M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 
R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

3.  A  Statistical  View  of  the  Commerce  of  the  United  States  of 
America:  its  connection  with  Agriculture  and  Manufacturers:   and 
an  account  of  the  Public  Debts,  Revenues,  and  Expenditures  of  the 
United  States  .  .  .  Hartford,  1816.     8°,  pp.  xii,  407,  xx. 

[A.A.S.    B.Ath.     B.Publ.    Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.  2d  edition.     New-York,  1817.     8°,  pp.  xii,  445,  viii. 
[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll.     Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

The  same.  3d  edition.     New  Haven,  1835.     8°,  pp.  xvi,  600. 
[A.  A.  S.    B.  Alh.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     Harv. 
M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

Still  held  in  esteem  as  a  valuable  compilation. 

4.  A  Political  and  Civil  History  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
from  the  year  1763  to  the  close  of  the  administration  of  President 
Washington,  in  March,  1797.  .  .  .  New  Haven,  1828.     2  vols.  8°, 
pp.  528;   539. 

[A.A.S.  A.C.A.  B.Ath.  B.  Publ.  Bowdoin  Coll.  Brit.  Mus. 
Brown  Univ.  Han>.  M.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  Publ. 
N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.  U.  S.  Y.  C. 

A  continuation  of  this  valuable  work  was  prepared  by  the  author 
in  his  last  years,  but  remains  unpublished. 

He  contributed  to  the  North  American  Review  for  January,  1827, 
a  review  of  Theodore  Lyman's  Diplomacy  of  the  United  States, 
pp.  92-110.  He  is  also  said  to  have  been  a  contributor  to  the 
American  Quarterly  Review. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Farmington     Magazine,     ii,     6-8.       Pitkin     Family,     27,     50-51.      Pres. 
Memorial  Biographies  of  the  N.-E.       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  184,  475. 
Hist.     Geneal.     Society,     i,     76-85. 


NATHANIEL  ROSSITER,  the  son  of  Nathaniel  and 
Deborah  (Fowler)  Rossiter,  of  Guilford,  Connecticut,  was 
born  in  Guilford  on  May  21,  1762. 


44°  Yale  College 

He  settled  in  his  native  town  as  a  lawyer,  and  repre- 
sented Guilford  in  the  General  Assembly  during  six 
sessions  between  1795  and  1804.  Later  he  was  Sheriff  of 
New  Haven  County,  from  November,  1804,  to  June,  1819. 
He  was  also  a  Justice  o'f  the  County  Court  from  1800  to 
1805. 

In  his  later  years  he  resided  successively  in  Pomf ret 
and  Suffield,  Connecticut,  and  in  Rochester  and  Albany, 
New  York. 

He  died  in  Albany  on  March  26,  1835,  aged  nearly  73 
years. 

He  first  married,  Sarah,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Joseph 
Pynchon  (Yale  1757),  of  Guilford,  and  had  by  her  four 
sons  and  one  daughter.  The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1810,  and  the  third  son  in  1815.  The  two  young- 
est children  died  in  infancy.  After  his  first  wife's  death 
he  married  Mrs.  Olney,  a  widow. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight   Family,   ii,   633.     Munsell,       L.  H.  Steiner,  Hist,  of  Guilford,  473, 
Annals    of    Albany,    x,   240.     B.    C.      516. 
Steiner,   MS.    Letter,   Nov.   7,    1906. 


ELIHU  PLATT  SMITH  was  the  only  child  of  the  Rev. 
Charles  Jeffry  Smith  (Yale  1757),  of  Brookhaven,  Long 
Island,  who  died  in  his  infancy. 

He  became  a  merchant  in  New  York  City,  and  died 
there,  of  yellow  fever,  on  August  14,  1795. 

He  is  said  to  -have  been  previously  engaged  to  be  married 
to  a  Miss  Havens,  and  the  breaking  of  the  engagement  is 
said  to  have  been  partially  responsible  for  his  death. 

His  portrait  (as  well  as  his  mother's)  is  in  possession  of 
Professor  Theodore  S.  Woolsey;  it  was  painted  by  Ralph 
Earl  in  1794,  and  represents  a  large  man  with  blue  eyes, 
dark  brown  hair,  and  high-colored  complexion. 


AUTHORITIES. 
N.  Y.  Geneal.  and  Biogr.  Record,  v,  24. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  441 

ROBERT  SPELMAN,  fourth  child  and  second  son  of 
Phineas  and  Elizabeth  Spelman,  of  Durham,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  Durham,  on  February  7,  1767,  and  was 
baptized  the  following  day. 

He  is  said  to  have  died  in  Durham,  on  June  10,  1803,  in 
his  37th  year ;  but  no  tombstone  can  be  found  there. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Fowler,  Hist,  of  Durham,  316,  400. 


THOMAS  STEDMAN,  the  eldest  child  and  only  son  of 
Captain  James  Stedman,  of  Hampton,  then  a  parish  in 
Windham,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Deacon  Thomas 
and  Anna  (Seaver)  Stedman,  of  Brookline,  Massachu- 
setts, and  Hampton,  was  born  on  November  6,  1761,  and 
was  baptized  nine  days  later.  His  mother  was  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Deacon  Ebenezer  Griffin,  of  Hampton. 

He  studied  law,  and  opened  an  office  about  1790,  in 
Hampton,  where  he  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  his 
profession,  besides  being  called  "one  of  the  most  urbane, 
genteel,  intelligent  and  obliging  men  of  the  day."  He 
represented  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly  in  1793, 
and  was  thought  of  for  higher  public  service;  but  in  1806 
he  was  induced  to  remove  to  Massena,  near  the  St.  Law- 
rence River,  in  Northern  New  York,  where  he  quickly  won 
public  confidence  and  respect,  and  acquired  a  large  landed 
property.  He  was  Town  Treasurer  in  1806,  Supervisor 
in  1810,  and  Deacon  of  the  Congregational  Church  for 
many  years. 

He  died  in  Massena,  on  May  18,  1838,  aged  7&/2  years. 

He  married,  a  year  or  two  after  graduation,  Lucy 
Warren,  who  died  in  Massena,  on  May  18,  1856,  in  her 
9Oth  year. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  two  sons. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Lamed,  Hist,  of  Windham  County,       Geneal.  Register,  xiv,  70-71. 
ii,    240-41,    245.     N.    E.    Hist,    and 


442  Yale  College 

WILLIAM  TAYLOR,  the  youngest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Nathanael  Taylor  (Yale  1745),  of  New  Milford,  Con- 
necticut, was  born  in  New  Milford  on  March  20,  1764. 

On  graduation  he  taught  for  a  short  time  a  select  school 
in  his  native  village,  where  he  continued  for  the  rest  of 
his  life.  During  his  active  career  he  was  a  merchant,  and 
accumulated  a  handsome  property. 

In  the  militia  he  attained  the  rank  of  Colonel. 

He  died  in  New  Milford  on  February  24,  1841,  aged 
nearly  77  years. 

He  married,  on  December  3,  1786,  Abigail,  daughter  of 
Daniel  and  Abigail  (Dibble)  Starr,  of  Danbury,  Connecti- 
cut, who  died  in  New  Milford  on  August  17,  1845,  m  ner 
78th  year.  Their  children  were  four  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter, all  of  whom  lived  to  maturity.  The  youngest  son  was 
graduated  at  the  Yale  Medical  School  in  1824. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Boardman    Family,    274.     Orcutt,      261,  264,  573,  774-75-     Starr  Family, 
Hist,  of  New  Milford,  202,  231-32,       407. 


ABRAHAM  TOMLINSON,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Dr. 
Abraham  Tomlinson,  of  Milford,  Connecticut,  and  grand- 
son of  Jonah  and  Mary  (Moss)  Tomlinson  of  Derby, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Milford  on  April  i,  1765.  His 
mother  was  Abigail,  daughter  of  David  Gibson,  of 
Milford  and  Woodbury.  His  scholarship  was  defective, 
and  he  received  his  degree  by  special  grace  two  days  after 
the  Class  had  graduated. 

He  studied  medicine  with  his  father,  and  took  up 
practice  in  his  native  town. 

He  married  (perhaps  as  a  second  wife)  Esther  Benja- 
min, on  December  28,  1808. 

He  died  in  Milford,  of  apoplexy,  in  the  early  summer  of 
1820,  aged  55  years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  443 

His  wife,  Amelia,  survived  him,  with  three  daughters 
and  four  sons.  

AUTHORITIES. 

Or  cult,  Hist,  of  Stratford,  ii,  1312;       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  181, 
Tomlinsons  -in    America,    68,     104.       185. 


THOMAS  TOUSEY  was  a  grandson  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Tousey  (Yale  1707),  of  Newtown,  Connecticut. 

He  was  prepared  for  College  in  Newtown  by  Professor 
Nehemiah  Strong. 

All  that  is  known  of  his  later  life  is  that  he  is  said  to 
have  died  in  Rochester,  New  York,  in  1844. 


DECIUS  WADSWORTH,  the  eldest  child  of  William  Wads- 
worth,  of  Farmington,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Captain  William  and  Ruth  (Hart)  Wadsworth,  was  born 
on  January  2,  1768.  His  mother  was  Mercy,  eldest  child 
of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Newell)  Clark,  of  Kensington 
Parish,  in  the  present  township  of  Berlin,  Connecticut. 

After  graduation  he  entered  as  a  law  student  the  office 
of  Judge  John  Trumbull  (Yale  1757),  of  Hartford;  but 
finding  that  profession  uncongenial,  he  accepted  in  1792 
a  commission  as  Captain  of  Artillery  and  Engineers  in  the 
United  States  Army.  In  this  service  he  rose  to  the  rank 
of  Major,  in  1800;  but  the  country  being  in  prospect  of 
peace,  he  resigned  in  1802,  and  soon  after  established 
himself  in  commercial  business  in  Montreal.  There  his 
integrity  and  urbanity  gained  him  many  friends,  and  he 
was  on  the  way  to  a  pecuniary  independence,  when  at  th*e 
outbreak  of  the  War  of  1812  he  was  urged  to  re-enter  the 
army,  and  to  assume  the  direction  of  the  newly  organized 
Ordnance  Department,  with  the  rank  of  Colonel. 

On  the  reduction  and  reorganization  of  the  service,  early 
in  1821,  he  was  retired,  in  shattered  health,  and  returned 
to  his  native  State. 


444  Yale  College 

He  died  in  New  Haven,  from  a  cancerous  affection,  on 
November  8,  1821,  in  his  54th  year.  He  was  never 
married,  and  his  property  was  left  by  will  to  his  brothers. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Gay,      Clark      Genealogy,      39-40.       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  252- 
National  Intelligencer,  Dec.  8,   1821.       53.     Wadsworth  Family,  170,  243. 


WILLIAM  WHEELER  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Connecticut, 
on  July  12,  1762,  the  elder  son  of  Captain  Ichabod 
Wheeler,  and  grandson  of  Lieutenant  John  and  Lydia 
(Porter)  Wheeler  of  Fairfield.  His  mother  was  Deborah, 
fourth  daughter  of  Captain  John  and  Catharine  (Wake- 
man)  Burr,  of  Stratfield  Parish,  now  Bridgeport. 

He  was  for  many  years  a  school  teacher  in  Fairfield  and 
vicinity. 

He  married  Rhoda  Parrot  in  Fairfield  on  April  13,  1800, 
and  had  by  her  one  son  and  one  daughter.  She  died  on 
November  26,  1808,  aged  nearly  29  years. 

He  died  in  Fairfield  on  January  25,  1845,  aged  82^ 
years,  and  is  buried  on  Greenfield  Hill.  His  son  was  his 
sole  heir. 

Portions  of  his  Journal  are  still  preserved,  and  an 
extract  which  has  recently  been  printed  is  as  follows: 

After  17  months'  preparatory  discipline  (4  books  of  Virgil,  4  of 
Tulley's  Orations  in  Latin,  &  four  evangelists  in  Greek,  being  then 
required)  I  entered  Yale  with  about  100  men — being  the  largest 
class  that  at  that  time  ever  entered — in  the  year  1781,  under  the 
administration  of  Ezra  Stiles,  President,  S.  T.  D.,  an  aged  man, 
who,  when  abroad  wore  a  large  white  wig,  &  used  an  eye-glass, 
being  near  sighted — him  to  honor — (raining  or  not)  we  must  never 
approach  nearer  than  ten  rods  without  pulling  off  our  hats ;  &  five 
rods  for  a  tutor.  The  first  year  after  entrance  they  are  called 
Freshmen — Second  year  Sophomores — Third  year  Juniors — Fourth 
year  Seniors.  After  four  years  they  take  the  first  degree  A.B.  or 
Bachelor  of  Arts — some  time  after  they  take  the  second  degree  A.M. 
or  Master  of  Arts.  If  a  scholar  be  absent  from  prayers,  which  com- 
mence at  the  ringing  of  the  bell  morning  &  evening  at  six  o'clock 
"non  audivj  campanam,"  "hahui  amicum,"  or  "habui  special  nego- 
tium" — which  is  received  as  an  excuse  if  it  does  not  occur  too 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  445 

often — if  it  does  he  is  fined.  They  recite  three  lessons  a  day  at 
morning1,  noon  &  evening. 

At  meal  time  in  the  morning1  every  one  at  the  ringing  of  the  bell 
runs  with  a  tea  dish — at  noon  with  a  knife  &  fork  &  at  supper  with 
a  spoon.  Their  food  is  often  indifferent  but  cheap  (then)  only 
$1.25  per  week  in  the  hall. 

Their  hours  of  relaxation  are  from  6  till  9,  from  12  till  2,  &  from 

5  to  6. 

There  are  three  weeks'  vacation  in  January — 3  weeks  in  May — 

6  six  beginning  in  September.     Each  room  in  College  is  furnished 
with  two  studios  (or  closets)  where  the  students  keep  their  books 
and  pursue  their  studies. 

My  next  adventure  was  in  a  school  at  North  Fairfield  (Weston) 
for  45  shillings  per  month  for  three  months.  .  .  .  1783 — I  began 
Staples  free  school  for  166  dollars  per  year,  to  board  myself — kept 
only  five  months,  it  being  removed  to  Weston  by  an  act  of  the 
Assembly,  the  donor  being  Staples  of  Weston,  it  was  then  called 
Weston  Academy. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Stratford,  ii,  1341-  464,  525.  Todd,  Burr  Family,  2d 
42.  Schenck,  Hist,  of  Fairfield,  ii,  ed.,  142. 


EZEKIEL  WILLIAMS,  the  second  son  of  Ezekiel  Williams, 
of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Wethersfield,  on 
December  29,  1765.  Brothers  were  graduated  here  in 
1781,  1794,  and  1796,  respectively. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  settled  in  Hart- 
ford, where  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
and  in  various  business  undertakings. 

He  was  at  one  time  postmaster  of  the  city. 

He  died  in  Hartford  on  October  18,  1843,  m  ms  ?8th 
year. 

He  married,  in  Windsor,  Connecticut,  on  October  20, 
1794,  Abigail  (or  Nabby),  the  eldest  child  of  the  Hon. 
Oliver  and  Abigail  (Wolcott)  Ellsworth,  who  was  born  on 
August  1 6,  1774,  and  survived  him. 

Their  only  child  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1816. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Stiles,    Hist,    of    Wethersfield,    ii,       ii,  219.     Stoddard  Family,  1865,  78. 
816,  818;    Hist,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed., 


446  Yale  College 

TIMOTHY  WILLIAMS,  the  youngest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Stephen  Williams  (Yale  1741),  of  West  Woodstock,  Con- 
necticut, was  born  in  Woodstock  on  April  16,  1764.  He 
joined  College  in  February  of  the  Freshman  year. 

He  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Windham  Association  of  Ministers  on  May  15,  1792;  and 
after  his  father's  death,  in  1795,  he  supplied  the  vacant 
pulpit  in  West  Woodstock  for  a  time.  His  active  life 
was,  however,  mainly  given  to  teaching,  and  in  a  lesser 
degree  to  evangelistic  labors. 

He  taught  in  an  academy  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  for 
several  years,  and  in  1796-97  was  the  Preceptor  of  the 
Academy  since  known  as  Lawrence  Academy,  in  Groton, 
Massachusetts.  Later  he  taught  in  an  Academy  near 
Albany,  New  York,  and  in  another  in  Hampshire  County, 
Virginia, — in  which  latter  State  he  resided  for  twenty 
years.  '  • 

He  fufilled  several  appointments  as  a  missionary  in 
the  employment  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  preached 
as  a  supply  in  many  parts  of  the  North  and  South,  though 
never  ordained. 

He  returned  to  New  England  about  1840,  and  made  his 
home  in  the  place  of  his  birth,  where  he  died  in  February, 
1849,  m  ms  ^Sth  year.  He  was  unmarried. 


AUTHORITIES.  ,., 

Lamed,  Hist,  of  Windham  County,       iii,  8.     T.  Williams,  MS.  Letter,  Sept. 
ii,  371.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,      25,  1843. 


GIDEON  WOODRUFF,  the  youngest  child  of  Deacon 
Jonathan  Woodruff,  of  Southington  Parish,  in  Farming- 
ton,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Daniel  and  Lydia 
(Smith)  Woodruff,  of  Southington,  was  baptized  on 
October  30,  1763.  His  mother  was  Phebe  Wiard,  of 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1785  447 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation  with  Dr.  Jared 
Potter  (Yale  1760),  of  Wallingford,  Connecticut,  and 
settled  in  Plymouth,  then  a  part  of  Watertown.  After  a 
few  years  he  removed  to  New  Haven,  but  soon  returned  to 
Plymouth,  where  he  was  a  reputable  and  useful  physician 
during  a  long  life. 

He  died  in  Plymouth  on  September  9,  1847,  aged  nearly 
84  years. 

He  married  Sarah  Heaton,  of  New  Haven,  by  whom 
he  had  three  sons,  the  youngest  of  whom  was  graduated 
at  the  Yale  Medical  School  in  1826.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Abraham  and  Mabel  (Cooper)  Heaton,  of  Plymouth, 
and  died  on  February  23,  1860,  in  her  88th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Tintlow,  Hist,  of  Southington,  517,  cclxiii,  cclxviii. 


JOEL  WRIGHT,,  Junior,  was  born  in  Northampton,  Mas- 
sachusetts, on  September  29,  1769,  the  son  of  Joel  Wright, 
and  grandson  of  Captain  Noah  Wright,  of  Northampton. 

After  graduation  he  went  to  South  America,  where  he 
was  engaged  in  business  for  several  years. 

He  died  in  Surinam,  Guiana,  in  August,  1797,  aged 
nearly  28  years.  .r> 

AUTHORITIES. 
Clark,  Antiquities  of  Northampton,  108-09,  363. 


448  Yale  College 


Annals,    1785—86 


In  June,  1786,  the  Senior  Tutor,  Matthew  T.  Russell, 
of  the  Class  of  1779,  resigned,  and  his  place  was  filled  by 
Jedidiah  Morse,  of  the  Class  of  1783.  The  three  other 
Tutors  (Simeon  Baldwin,  Henry  Channing,  and  Enoch 
Perkins,  of  the  Class  of  1781)  all  resigned  at  Commence- 
ment in  1786;  and  were  succeeded  by  Ebenezer  Fitch,  of 
the  Class  of  1777  (who  had  already  served  as  Tutor  in 
1780-83),  Abiel  Holmes,  of  the  Class  of  1783,  and  Joseph 
Denison,  of  the  Class  of  1784. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Wales,  Professor  of  Divinity,  who  had 
suffered  since  the  fall  of  1783  from  epileptic  fits,  became 
much  more  seriously  affected  towards  the  end  of  1785,  and 
in  May,  1786,  sailed  for  Europe,  but  returned  in  October 
without  substantial  benefit. 

An  interesting  print  was  published  in  June,  1786,  giving 
a  view  of  the  two  existing  College  buildings ;  this  proved 
of  use  as  a  guide  in  the  modern  restoration  of  Connecticut 
Hall. 

The  bill  of  expense  for  the  public  dinner  at  Commence- 
ment of  this  year  is  as  follows : — 

New  Haven,  Sept.  13,  1786,  Corporation  to  the  Steward,  Dr.  for 

Commensment  Dinner 

To  134  Ib.  of  Wheat  flower  at  2^d i.  5.1 

To    70  Ib.  of  Fresh  pork  at  4d i.  6.3 

To  102  Ib.  of  Beef  at  3d i.  5.6 

To     20  Ib.  of  Sugar  at  7d 1 1.8 

To     12  Ib.  of  Butter  at  9d 9. 

To    24  Ib.  of  Salt  Pork  at  yd 14. 

To  Cinnemont  4/ —     To  Nut  Mages  8/ —      Spice  ^ 13.6 

To  5  Bushel  of  Appels  at  2/ — 10. 

To  8  Ib.  of  hogs  Lard  at  yd 4.8 

To  Beats  &  Garrets  Ye    Pickels  2/— 6.6 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  449 

To  paters  2/ —      Cabbadge  4/ — 6. 

To  12  Ib.  of  Cheas  at  8d 8. 

To  i  Barrel  of  Cyder 9. 

To  i       Do  of  Beer "". 6. 

To  Vineger  i/ —       Salt  i/ —       Sand  i/ — 3. 

To  3^  Gallons  of  Wine  at  8/— 1.8. 

To  Fier  Wood 12. 

To  Candels  i/ —    To  Sope  3/ — 4. 

To  the  use  of  Kitchen  Fureneture  &c 


2. 

Tabel  Cloaths  &  Sundrs 

To  2  Men  6  Days  Each  at  3/ — 1.16. 

To  weoman  to  Scower  &  Cook  9  Days  at  2/ — 18. 

To  my  Time  &  Trobbel - 4. 


19.16.2 

Erroes  Excepted 

Jeremiah  Atwater  Steward 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred 
at  this  Commencement  on  Thomas  Jefferson,  now  Ambas- 
sador to  France,  a  valued  correspondent  of  President 
Stiles. 


Sketches,  Class  of  1786 


*Johannes  Bird,  e  Congr.  *:8o6 

*Tillotson  Bronson,  S.T.D.  Brun.  1813  "1826 

*Samuel  Platt  Broome,  et  Neo-Caes.  1786,  A.M.       *i8n 

*Phineas  Bruce,  e  Congr.  *i8c>9 

*  Samuel  Carrington 

*Lynde  Catlin  *I&33 

*Smith  Clark  "1813 

*Isaacus  Clinton,  A.M.  1807  "1840 

*  Aaron  Cooke  Collins,  A.M.  "1830 
*Oliverus  Dudleius  Cooke,  A.M.  *I833 
*Johannes  Elliott,  A.M,,  S.T.D.  1822,  Socius  "1824 

*  Jonathan  Ellis 

29 


45°  Yale  College 

*  Benjamin  Ely  "1852 
*Johannes  Ely,  A.M.  1790  "1827 
*Benjamin  Josephus  Gilbert,  A.M.  et  Dartm.  1794      *i849 
Thomas  Ruggles  Gold,  e  Congr.  "1827 
*Carolus  Augustus  Goodrich,  A.M.  *i8o4 
*Nathanael  Griffing  *i845 
*Stanleius  Griswold,   A.M.,   Territ.   Mich.  Seer., 

Rerump.   Foed.   Sen.,   Territ.   Illin.   Cur.  Supr. 

Jurid.  "1815 

*Guilielmus  Brenton  Hall  *i8c>9 

*Edvardus  Halsey  *i8oi 

*AsaHillyer,  A.M.  1793  et  Neo-Caes.  1800,  S.T.D. 

Alleg.  1818  *i840 

*Reuben  Hitchcock,  A.M.  1792  *i?94 

*ReubenIves  *i8s6 

*  Johannes  Kingsbury  *J844 
*Guilielmus  Leffingwell,  A.M.  "1834 
*Henricus  Gualterus  Livingston,  A.M.,  e  Congr.      *i8io 
*Isaacus  Maltby  *i8i9 
*Samuel  Marsh  *i8i4 
*Truman  Marsh  *I&51' 
*Calvinus  May  *i842 
*David  Miller  *:8o3 
*Guilielmus  Fowler  Miller,  A.M.  *i8i8 
*Isaacus  Mills,  A.M.  1798  *i843 
* Abner  Moseley  *  1 8 1 1 
*Elizur  Moseley  ^833 
*Gad  Newell  *i859 
*Elias  Perkins,  A.M.   1799,  e  Congr.,  Socius  ex 

officio  *i845 

*Edvardus  Porter,  A.M.  *i828 
*Guilielmus  Brintnall  Ripley,  A.M.  1792,  Socius        *i822 

*  Johannes  Saltmarsh,  1795  *i8i5 
*Georgius  Selden 

*Samuel  Burr  Sherwood,  e  Congr. 

*Elihu  Hubbard  Smith,  A.M.  "1798 

*Guilielmus  Stone,  A.M.  "1840 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  451 

*Simeon  Strong,  A.M.  "1841 
*Nathanael  Terry,  et  Dartm.  1786,  A.M.  1798,  e 

Cohgr.  "1844 

*Ambrosius  Todd  *i8c>9 
*Jahacobus  Rutsen  Van  Rensselaer,  1787,  Reip. 

Nov.  Ebor.  Seer.  "1835 

*Cahmus  White  *i853 

*Fredericus  Wolcott,  A.M.  1796,  Soc.  ex  officio  "1837 


JOHN  BIRD,  the  only  child  of  Dr.  Seth  Bird,  a  skilful 
physician  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  by  his  second  wife, 
Hannah  Sheldon,  was  born  in  Litchfield  on  November  22, 
1768.  His  father  was  the  son  of  John  and  Mary 
(Atwood)  Bird,  of  Bethlehem,  Connecticut,  and  his 
mother  the  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Theoda  (Hunt) 
Sheldon,  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts. 

<He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  opened  an  office 
in  Litchfield,  but  about  the  year  1793  removed  to  Troy, 
New  York,  where  he  practiced  with  brilliant  success  until 
his  early  death.  In  arguing  a  case  in  the  Courts  he  was 
remarkable  for  acute  and  powerful  reasoning  and  for 
genuine  eloquence.  His  ability  was  equalled  by  his  eccen- 
tricity. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  New  York  Assembly  for  three 
sessions  in  1796-98. 

He  was  an  active  partisan  of  Jefferson,  and  a  member 
of  the  United  States  Congress  for  one  term,  1799-1801, 
and  again  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  1803. 

He  married,  on  October  4,  1789,  Eunice,  daughter 
of  Colonel  Joshua  Porter  (Yale  1754),  of  Salisbury, 
Connecticut.  The  marriage  was  not  happy,  owing  to 
discordant  temperaments.  A  divorce  was  procured  in 
Connecticut  in  1798,  and  he  next  married,  on  March  29, 
1799,  Sally,  second  daughter  of  David  and  Rachel 
(M'Neil)  Buel,  of  Troy,  and  earlier  of  Litchfield. 

He  died  in  Troy  on  February  2,  1806,  in  his  38th  year. 


45 2  Yale  College 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter,  and 
two  sons  by  his  second  wife. 

His  second  wife  died  on  August  4,  1815,  in  her  36th 
year. 

His  first  wife  married,  secondly,  on  October  6,  1803, 
Joshua  Stanton,  Junior  (Yale  1788),  by  whom  she  had 
two  children.  He  died  in  October,  1806,  and  she  married, 
thirdly,  Colonel  Albert  Pawling,  of  Troy,  in  1812.  She 
died,  at  the  residence  of  her  youngest  son  by  her  first 
marriage,  in  Buffalo,  New  York,  on  March  15,  1848,  in 
her  82d  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Descendants       of       Col.       Joshua  of     Troy,     46-47,     50,     73.      Welles, 

Porter,      14-17.       Hartford      Marsh  Buell     Family,     113-14.       Woodruff, 

Family,    75-76.    Hinman,    Genealogy  Litchfield   Genealogical  Register,  30, 

of    the    Puritans,    225.      Kilbourne,  43.      Woodworth,    Reminiscences    of 

Hist,    of    Litchfield,    189.      Stanton  Troy,  94-98. 
Genealogy,    172,   252.      Weise,    Hist. 


TILLOTSON  BRONSON,  the  sixth  child  and  eldest  son  of 
Captain  Amos  Bronson,  a  respectable  farmer  of  North- 
bury  Society  (now  Plymouth),  in  Waterbury,  Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  John  and  Comfort  (Baldwin) 
Bronson,  of  Northbury,  was  born  on  January  8,  1762. 
His  mother  was  Anna,  elder  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Eliza- 
beth (Barnes)  Blakeslee,  of  New  Haven  and  Waterbury. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  put  under  the  care  of  the 
Rev.  John  Trumbull  (Yale  1735),  of  Watertown,  to  pre- 
pare for  College.  He  entered  in  1781,  but  was  obliged  to 
take  a  dismission  at  the  beginning  of  the  Junior  year,  to 
gain  funds  by  teaching,  returning  a  year  later. 

He  had  been  bred  an  Episcopalian,  and  was  suffi- 
ciently advanced  in  years  and  promising  in  powers  to  be 
admitted  to  the  diaconate  by  Bishop  Seabury,  at  Derby,  on 
September  21,  1766,  eight  days  after  his  graduation. 

In  the  following  month  he  took  charge  of  a  most  dis- 
couraging field  of  missionary  labor  in  Strafford,  Vermont, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  453 

and  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  remained  for 
two  years — having  in  the  meantime  revisited  Connecticut 
and  received  priest's  orders  "from  the  Bishop  on  February 
25,  1788. 

In  May,  1789,  he  went  to  Boston,  where  he  officiated 
for  nearly  a  year  in  Christ  Church,  during  the  absence  of 
the  Rector  in  Europe. 

In  the  fall  of  1790  ne  was  settled  over  the  churches  at 
Hebron,  Chatham,  and  Middle  Haddam,  Connecticut, 
where  he  was  extensively  useful  until  1793. 

In  the  fall  of  1795,  by  desire  of  the  Diocesan  Conven- 
tion, he  opened  a  school  in  Cheshire,  Connecticut,  which 
was  designed  to  be  preparatory  to  the  Academy  estab- 
lished there.  About  the  same  time  the  rectorship  of  St. 
John's  Church,  Waterbury,  became  vacant;  and  after 
having  preached  there  for  several  months  Mr.  Bronson 
accepted  an  invitation  to  take  the  permanent  charge  of 
the  parish  in  December,  1797.  In  the  meantime  he  was 
married,  on  November  6,  1797,  to  Hannah,  second  daugh- 
ter of  Hezekiah  and  Rebecca  (Judson)  Thompson,  of 
Woodbury,  Connecticut. 

He  officiated  for  three- fourths  of  the  time  in  Waterbury 
(receiving  $250  annually)  and  one-fourth  in  Salem,  now 
Naugatuck,  and  continued  in  the  rectorship  till  the 
enhanced  expenses  of  living  compelled  him  to  ask  (towards 
the  end  of  1805)  for  an  increase  of  salary.  This  being 
refused,  he  felt  obliged  to  seek  another  field,  and  resigned 
in  June,  1806. 

He  then  removed  to  New  Haven,  having  been  engaged 
to  edit  the  Churchman's  Magazine,  a  monthly  published 
here.  He  continued  his  editorial  duties  until  the  magazine 
was  removed  to  New  York,  in  1808. 

In  the  meantime,  in  October,  1806,  he  was  elected  by  the 
Diocesan  Convention  to  the  office  of  Principal  of  the 
Episcopal  Academy  at  Cheshire,  and  entered  on  his  duties 
at  once. 


454  Yale  College 

He  found  the  Academy  in  a  depressed  condition;  but 
his  talents  and  acquirements  proved  an  attraction,  and  for 
the  next  fifteen  years  the  Institution  enjoyed  a  large  share 
of  the  public  confidence.  Students  were  educated  in  the 
classics,  and  were  also  prepared  for  the  various  learned 
professions,  especially  for  the  ministry.  His  favorite 
studies  were  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy:  but 
he  also  excelled  in  Ecclesiastical  History  and  the  Criticism 
of  the  Text  of  the  New  Testament.  In  1813  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  conferred  on  him  by 
Brown  University. 

His  wife  died  in  Cheshire  on  February  28,  1808,  in  her 
36th  year;  and  he  married,  secondly,  Polly  Hotchkiss,  of 
Hamden,  Connecticut. 

He  was  frequently  honored  with  the  appointment  of 
delegate  to  the  General  Convention  of  the  Church,  and  for 
twenty  years  was  one  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
Diocese. 

In  November,  1824,  he  was  appointed  editor  of  a  new 
series  of  the  Churchman's  Magazine,  which  he  conducted 
until  his  death. 

He  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted  health  until  the  spring 
of  1825,  when  he  first  suffered  from  an  attack  of  stone  in 
the  bladder.  Successive  attacks  weakened  him  rapidly, 
and  in  August,  1826,  a  paralytic  shock  ensued,  followed 
by  others,  which  resulted  in  his  death,  in  Cheshire,  on 
September  6,  in  his  65th  year. 

His  second  wife  died  on  September  28,  1826,  aged  67 
years. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  two  daughters  and  two 
sons,  and  by  his  second  marriage  a  son  and  a  daughter, — 
all  of  whom  survived  him. 

A  Memoir  of  his  life,  by  the  Rev.  Birdseye  G.  Noble 
(Yale  1810),  Acting  Editor  of  the  Churchman's  Maga- 
zine, was  published  in  that  periodical  for  December,  1826. 

Dr.  Bronson's  talents  were  solid  rather  than  showy,  and 
he  lacked  utterly  the  graces  of  oratory,  but  his.  sermons 
were  carefully  prepared  and  well-written. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  455 

In  figure  he  was  tall  and  rather  portly,  but  awkward  and 
uncouth  in  manner. 

He  contributed  largely,  to  the  periodicals  which  he 
edited,  and  in  particular  may  be  specified  a  series  of  twelve 
Odes  to  the  Months  which  appeared  in  volume  4  of  the 
Churchman,  1825-26,  and  another  poetical  piece,  entitled 
Retrospect,  in  the  same  magazine,  volume  5. 

He  published  separately: 

The  Divine  Institution  and  Perpetuity  of  the  Christian  Priesthood. 
A  Sermon  [from  Hebr.  vii,  15-17],  delivered  before  the  Conven- 
tion of  the  Clergy  and  Lay  Delegates  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  State  of  Connecticut,  in  Christ  Church,  Stratford,  on  the  second 
day  of  June,  1813:  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  the  Right  Rev. 
Abraham  Jarvis,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Connecticut.  New-Haven,  1813. 
8°,  pp.  19.  [B.  PubL  Brown  Univ.  N.  Y.  H.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,  Hist,   of   Waterbury,   i,  475.      The    Churchman's     Magazine, 

appendix,   23.     Beardsley,   Addresses  1st  Series,  v  (1808),  120;    2d  Series, 

and   Discourses,   7,  23-31;    Hist,   of  v     (1826),    259-69.       Cothren,    Hist, 

the   Episcopal    Church   in    Conn.,    ii,  of  Woodbury,  i,  732.     Sprague,  An- 

47.   9J-92,    180,   219-20,   228,   257-59;  nals  °f  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  v,  358-63. 

Life  of   Seabury,   344-45.     Branson,  Prcs.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  IOI. 
Hist,  of  Waterbury,  304-05,  376-79, 


SAMUEL  PLATT  BROOME  was  the  eldest  son  of  Samuel 
Broome,  a  wealthy  New  York  merchant,  who  removed  to 
New  Haven  in  the  summer  of  1784.  His  mother  was 
Phebe,  daughter  of  Dr.  Zophar  and  Rebecca  (Wood) 
Platt,  of  Huntington,  Long  Island.  John  Broome,  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor  of  New  York  in  1804,  was  his  uncle. 

The  first  two  years  of  his  College  course  were  spent  at 
Princeton.  On  taking  his  Master's  degree  at  Yale  in 
1789,  he  delivered  an  English  Oration  "On  the  literary 
and  political  improvements  of  the  present  age." 

He  was  in  business  in  New  York  City  for  a  time  after 
graduation.  His  health  then  failed,  and  the  most  of  his 
later  life  was  spent  abroad,  chiefly  in  France.  His 


45 6  Yale  College 

father's  large  property  was  early  dissipated,  and  he  became 
an  adventurer. 

He  died  by  his  own  hand  in  England  in  1811. 

AUTHORITIES. 
New  Englander,  xli,  9-10.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  137,  337,  365. 


PHINEAS  BRUCE,  the  second  of  ten  children  of  George 
and  Hannah  (Lovett)  Bruce,  was  born  in  Mendon, 
Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  on  June  7,  1762.  In 
his  childhood  his  father  removed  to  Rutland,  and  thence 
about  1783  to  Leicester,  both  in  the  same  county. 

He  began  the  study  of  law  with  William  Caldwell 
(Harvard  Coll.  1773),  of  Rutland,  a  few  months  after 
graduation,  and  in  October,  1787,  entered  the  office  of 
Benjamin  Hichborn  (Harvard  Coll.  1768),  an  eminent 
lawyer  of  Boston.  After  studying  with  him  until  Febru- 
ary, 1790,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Suffield  County  Bar,  and 
at  once  established  himself  in  Machias,  in  the  District 
of  Maine,  then  a  new  region,  being  the  first  lawyer  to 
*  settle  in  Washington  County. 

He  rose  to  a  good  -degree  of  eminence  in  his  profession, 
and  was  a  member  (in  1791-98  and  1800)  of  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts. 

In  1803  he  was  elected  to  the  Eighth  Congress,  but 
declined  the  election ;  upon  a  second  election  he  was  again 
chosen  to  the  same  Congress,  but  never  took  his  seat.  He 
was  stricken  with  insanity,  brought  on  by  ill  health  and 
over-exertion  in  his  profession,  and  never  recovered  suf- 
ficiently to  resume  active  duties. 

He  was  taken  to  Uxbridge,  Massachusetts,  to  be  placed 
under  the  charge  of  Dr.  George  Willard  of  that  town,  who 
was  skilled  in  ministering  to  such  cases ;  and  he  died  there 
on  October  4,  1809,  in  his  48th  year. 

He  was  married  in  Boston,  on  March  29,  1795,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Peter  Thacher,  to  Jane,  daughter  of  Habijah 


or 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  457 

i 

and  Elizabeth  (Tudor)  Savage,  of  Boston,  and  sister  of 
the  Hon.  James  Savage  (Harvard  Coll.  1803),  by  whom 
he  had  five  sons  and  one  daughter.  Mrs.  Bruce  died  in 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  in  1854,  at  the  age  of  86. 

Mr.  Bruce  was  a  man  of  fine  address,  and  most  agree- 
able qualities. 

The  Hon.  William  Willis  (Harvard  Coll.  1813)  has 
written  of  him : — 

He  was  a  good  lawyer,  and  highly  esteemed  for  his  integrity, 
and  his  ability  to  investigate  and  analyze  any  subject  to  which  he 
applied  his  powers;  but  from  excessive  modesty  and  diffidence  he 
never  became  a  successful  advocate. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Boston      Record      Commissioners,       burn,  Hist,  of  Leicester,  202-03,  344. 
3Oth    Report,     146.    Leicester    Vital       Willis,  Law  and  Lawyers  of  Maine, 
Records,    19.     Mass.    Hist.    Society's       151-52. 
Proceedings,     xix,     163-64.      Wash- 


•  SAMUEL  CARRINGTON,  the  second  son  of  Dr.  Elias  Car- 
rington,  of  Milford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Noa- 
diah  Carrington,  of  Woodbridge,  then  part  of  New 
Haven,  was  born  in  Milford  on  June  9,  1767.  His  mother 
was  Esther,  daughter  of  Ephraim  and  Sarah  (Gunn) 
Northrop,  of  Milford. 

He  returned  to  Milford  upon  graduation,  and  studied 
medicine  under  his  father's  direction.  He  was  subse- 
quently employed  as  Army  Surgeon  at  the  Post  in  Stock- 
bridge,  Massachusetts,  where  his  sister,  the  wife  of  the 
Rev.  Isaac  Foster  (Yale  1776),  was  then  living. 

Later,  he  married  a  Dimon,  near  Norwalk,  Connecticut, 
but  for  some  reason  which  he  deemed  sufficient,  he  left  the 
country  immediately  after.  Letters  were  subsequently 
received  from  him  from  Nova  Scotia, — the  last  in  May> 
1802. 

AUTHORITIES. 
New  Haven  Colony  Hist.  Society's  Papers,  ii,  339. 


45 8  Yale  College 

LYNDE  CATLIN,  eldest  son  of  Captain  Alexander  and 
Abigail  Catlin,  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  grandson 
of  Lieutenant  John  and  Margaret  (Seymour)  Catlin,  of 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  1768.  His  mother  was  a  daughter 
of  Timothy  Goodman,  of  West  Hartford.  A  sister 
married  Stephen  Twining  (Yale  1795). 

He  returned  to  Litchfield  after  graduation,  and  on  Octo- 
ber 19,  1793,  married  Helen  Margaret  Kip,  of  Albany. 

In  1797  he  became  teller  in  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  in  New  York  City,  and  held  this  position  until  April, 
1803,  when  on  the  incorporation  of  the  Merchants  Bank 
in  New  York,  of  which  Oliver  Wolcott  (Yale  1778)  was 
the  first  President,  he  was  elected  Cashier  of  that  Institu- 
tion. While  in  this  office  he  attracted  the  notice  of  Mr. 
John  Jacob  Astor,  who  induced  him  in  1818  to  become 
Cashier  of  the  New  York  branch  of  the  United  States 
Bank. 

He  held  this  office  until  June,  1820,  when  he  returned 
to  the  Merchants  Bank  as  President.  His  administration 
of  that  office  was  distinguished  by  great  energy  and  by  an 
unprecedented  extension  of  business. 

He  continued  in  the  presidency  until  his  death,  in  New 
York,  on  October  18,  1833,  in  his  65th  year.  His  wife 
survived  him  for  ten  or  twelve  years. 

He  had  a  family  of  eight  children,  among  whom  were 
two  sons  who  were  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1802  and  1822 
respectively. 

His  portrait  is  reproduced  in  Hubert's  History  of  the 
Merchants  Bank.  He  is  still  remembered  as  a  true 
Christian  gentleman,  of  sterling  personal  integrity. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hinman,   Genealogy   of   the   Puri-       ruff,  Litchfield  Geneal.  Register,  52, 
tans,  871.    Hubert,  Merchants  Bank       55. 
of   N.   Y.,  27-28,    102,    105.     Wood- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  459 

SMITH  CLARK  was  born  in  Maromas,  a  part  of  Middle- 
town,  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  opposite  Middle 
Haddam,  on  March  8,  1766,  being  the  youngest  child  of 
Francis  and  Alice  (Smith?)  Clark,  of  Middletown. 

He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Hezekiah  Brainerd 
(Yale  1763),  of  Haddam,  and  settled  in  that  town,  where 
he  practiced  his  profession  with  distinction,  residing  at 
first  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Brainerd,  who  retired  from 
practice  in  1795. 

He  died  in  Haddam  on  June  9,  1813,  in  his  48th  year. 

He  was  never  married,  but  left  one  son  (Yale  1817), 
by  his  housekeeper,  who  took  his  name  and  inherited  his 
estate. 

He  was  a  man  of  short  stature  and  dignified  bearing, 
a  faithful,  kind  and  skilful  physician,  and  held  in  high 
regard  by  the  people. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Med.  Society's  Proceedings,       Starr,   MS.   Letter,   March  26,   1906. 
1877,     152-53;      1892,     558.      F.     F. 


ISAAC  CLINTON  was  born  in  Milford,  Connecticut,  on 
January  21,  1759.  He  is  said  to  have  seen  some  service 
in  the  Revolutionary  army,  before  entering  Yale. 

He  was  admitted  to  membership  in  the  College  Church 
on  profession  of  his  faith  at  the  close  of  his  Junior  year. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  County  Association  of 
Ministers  on  May  30,  1787.  In  the  same  year  he  married 
Charity,  daughter  of  David  and  Joanna  Welles,  of  Strat- 
ford, Connecticut. 

He  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Southwick,  Hampden  County,  Massachusetts,  on  Janu- 
ary 30,  1788.  There  he  lived  with  great  economy  on  a 
small  salary,  and  was  even  able  to  lay  up  money. 


460  Yale  College 

Six  children  were  born  to  him  in  Southwick,  five  of 
whom  died  within  a  single  week  in  1803  of  a  prevailing 
dysentery,  leaving  only  one  daughter  living;  two  sons 
were  born  subsequently.  A  grandson  was  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1846. 

On  October  13,  1807,  a  Congregational  Church  which 
had  just  been  formed  in  Lowville,  Lewis  County,  New 
York,  invited  him  to  become  their  minister,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  act  as  Principal  of  an  Academy,  which  was  char- 
tered the  following  year. 

On  accepting  this  offer,  he  was  dismissed  from  his 
parish  in  Southwick  in  December,  1807,  and  removed  to 
Lowville,  where  he  began  his  pastorate  in  March,  1808. 

He  continued  as  pastor  of  the  church  until  February, 
1816,  and  as  principal  of  the  Academy  (excepting  the  year 
1813-14)  until  1818.  He  was  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Academy  until  his  death.  He  had  a  large 
farm,  and  was  especially  successful  in  cultivating  fine 
varieties  of  fruit.  For  brief  periods  after  leaving  the 
pastorate  he  engaged  in  home  missionary  labor. 

He  died  in  Lowville  on  March  18,  1840,  in  his  82d  year. 

He  is  remembered  as  a  handsome  man,  who  dressed 
through  life  in  the  old  style,  with  knee-breeches  and  top- 
boots. 

An  obituary  notice  describes  him  as  "liberal  in  his 
sentiments,  yet  distinguished  for  his  fortitude,  firmness 
and  energy  of  character." 

He  published : 

1.  A  Treatise  on  Infant  Baptism.     Springfield    [1803-4?]     8°, 
pp.  90.  [C.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

2.  A  Treatise  on  Infant  Baptism.     Proving,  from  the  Scriptures, 
that    Infants    are    proper    subjects    of    Baptism  .  .     Springfield 
[1805.]      12°,  pp.  263  +  31. 

[A.  C.  A.     Andover  Theol.  Sem.    B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Y.  C. 

The  main  part  of  the  volume  is  in  two  divisions,  the  second  of 
which  has  the  heading,  A  Treatise  on  the  Connexion  and  Harmony 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures.  Appended  is,  A 
Treatise  on  Free  Communion  at  the  Lord's  Table,  in  the  form  of  a 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  461 

Sermon  from  i  Cor.  x,  17;  and,  with  separate  paging,  An  Appendix, 
to  the  argument  for  the  Sabbath,  in  the  form  of  a  Sermon  from 
Mark  ii,  27-28. 

The  work  is  reviewed  in  the  Panoplist  for  November,  1805. 

3.  The  Love  of  Christ  in  giving  himself  for  the  Church;   a  Dis- 
course preached  I2th  Sept.   1810,  at  the  Ordination  of  Jeduthun 
Higby  to  the  First  Congregational  Church,  Ley  den.     Utica,  1811. 
12°,  pp.  24.  [Brown  Univ. 

4.  A  Funeral  Sermon  occasioned  by  the  much  lamented  Death  of 
Mrs.  Ann  H.   Perry,  Consort  of  Doctor  David  Perry,  delivered, 
Nov.  8,  1812  . .     Utica,  1813.    8°,  pp.  19.  [Brown  Univ. 

5.  Household  Baptism:     from  various  sources  vindicated,  espe- 
cially, from  the  consideration,  that  God's  visible  church  covenant 
is  Unchangeable,  is  expressly  established  with  Families,  and  God 
is  the  God  of  Families.     Lowville,  1838.     12°,  pp.  201.         [Y.  C. 

Originally  intended  for  a  new  edition  of  his  previous  book;   but 
almost  entirely  rewritten. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Quart.  Register,  x,  382,  397.  68,  261-62.  N.  Y.  Observer,  July 
Davis,  Hist.  Sketch  of  Westfield,  35.  4,  1840.  Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Stratford, 
Hampden  Pulpit,  55.  Hough,  Hist.  ii,  1330.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
of  Lewis  County,  N.  Y.,  164,  167-  Diary,  iii,  183,  266,  305. 


AARON  COOKE  COLLINS,  the  second  son  and  child  of 
William  and  Ruth  (Cooke)  Collins,  was  born  in  North 
Guilford,  Connecticut,  on  May  4,  1762.  He  joined  the 
College  Church  on  profession  of  faith  in  July  of  his  Fresh- 
man year.  At  the  opening  of  the  Senior  year  he  took  a 
dismission,  but  was  re-admitted  in  June. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  County  Association  of 
Ministers  on  May  30,  1787. 

On  April  9,  1789,  after  having  preached  in  Harwinton, 
Connecticut,  for  several  months,  he  was  invited  to  settle  in 
the  ministry  there,  which  invitation  he  declined. 

On  October  19,  1789,  he  married  Love,  youngest  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Rev.  Jonathan  Lee  (Yale  1742),  of  Salis- 
bury, Connecticut,  who  was  born  on  December  5,  1767. 


46z  Yale  College 

On  January  25,  1790,  he  received  a  call  to  settle  in 
Morristown,  New  Jersey,  as  colleague  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Timothy  Johnes  (Yale  1737),  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  After  some  delay,  caused  by  a  charge  against 
his  moral  character,  growing  out  of  the  date  of  birth  of 
his  eldest  child,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  in  1791. 

Subsequently  the  former  charge  was  revived,  and  he 
resigned  his  office  in  Morristown  in  September,  1793,  with 
the  design  of  leaving  the  Presbyterian  denomination ;  but 
when  his  application  came  before  the  Presbytery  of  New 
York,  it  was  found  that  he  had  already,  after  frequent 
denials,  admitted  the  truth  of  the  charge  made  against 
him,  and  the  Presbytery  felt  obliged,  on  October  3,  1793,  to 
depose  him  from  the  ministry. 

After  this  sentence  he  next  appears  in  Vermont,  where 
he  was  installed  over  the  Congregational  Church  just 
formed  in  Williston,  near  Burlington,  on  January  23,  1800, 
with  a  salary  of  three  hundred  dollars.  He  was  dismissed 
on  May  4,  1804,  and  subsequently  removed  to  Ontario 
County,  New  York,  and  apparently  supplied  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  East  Bloomneld  for  some  time  shortly 
before  1807.  After  this  he  desisted  from  the  exercise  of 
ministerial  functions ;  and  in  view  of  this  fact  and  of  the 
judgment  of  the  neighboring  ministers,  he  was  restored  to 
full  standing  by  the  New  York  Presbytery  on  October  8, 
1808. 

In  the  same  year  he  was  installed  over  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Honeoye,  now  Richmond,  in  Ontario  County, 
where  he  remained  until  his  resignation  in  August,  1816. 
Later  he  returned  to  East  Bloomneld,  where  he  died  in 
1830.  He  left  a  large  family  of  children. 


AUTHORITIES. 

S.    D.    Alexander,    Presbytery    of  232.    MS.  Records  of  the  Presbytery 

New  York,  27.       Chipman,  Hist,  of  of  N.  Y.     Morristown  Presbyterian 

Harwinton,  71,  141.     Dwight,  Strong  Church    Record,    ii,    104,    144.      Rec- 

Family,    ii,    960,    985.      Hemenway,  ords  of  the  General  Association  of 

Vt.  Hist.  Gazetteer,  i,  904.     Hist,  of  Conn.,    147,    154.     Pres.    Stiles,   Lit- 

Ontario    County,    N.    Y.,    1878,    211,  erary  Diary,  iii,  78,  220,  226,  266. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  463 

OLIVER  DUDLEY  COOKE,  the  eldest  child  of  Aaron  and 
Lucretia  (Dudley)  Cooke,.  of  Wallingford,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Captain  Aaron  and  Ruth  (Burrage) 
Cooke,  of  Wallingford,  was  born  in  1766.  The  family 
lived  at  the  south  end  of  the  town  and  attended  the  church 
in  Northford  Society,  in  North  Branford.  A  half-brother 
was  graduated  here  in  1793. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  Smalley  (Yale  1756),  of  New  Britain,  Connecti- 
cut, and  joined  his  church,  on  profession  of  faith,  on  July 
12,  1789;  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven 
Eastera  Association  of  Ministers  on  September  29,  1789. 

On  May  30,  1792,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  small 
Congregational  Church  in  North  New  Fairfield,  now  Sher- 
man, Connecticut,  but  was  dismissed  on  November  26, 
1793,  because  of  ill  health;  by  the  tradition  in  his  family 
he  is  also  said  to  have  been  influenced  by  conscientious 
distrust  of  his  fitness  for  the  work. 

He  then  removed  to  Hartford,  and  engaged  successfully 
in  trade  as  a  bookseller  and  bookbinder.  He  accumulated 
a  large  estate,  and  was  greatly  respected.  He  retired 
from  active  business  several  years  before  his  death.  He 
contributed  one  thousand  dollars  to  Yale  College  in  1831. 

He  married  Sophia  Pratt,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and 
two  daughters.  His  wife  died  on  March  20,  1833,  in  her 
58th  year;  and  he  died,  suddenly,  while  walking  in  the 
street  in  his  usual  health,  in  Hartford,  on  April  24,  1833, 
aged  67  years. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,  Memorial  of  New  Brit-       1833.    Davis,   Hist,   of   Wallingford, 
ain,  207.    Conn.   Courant,   April   30,       683,  606. 


JOHN  ELLIOTT,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Deacon 
George  Eliot,  a  farmer  of  Killingworth,  now  Clinton, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  the  Rev.  Jared  Eliot  (Yale 


464  Yale  College 

1706),  was  born  on  August  24,  1768.  His  mother  was 
Hannah,  eldest  daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  and  Hannah 
(Marsh)  Ely,  of  North  Lyme,  Connecticut.  A  brother 
was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1802. 

He  was  prepared  for  College  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Achilles  Mansfield  (Yale  1770). 

After  graduation  he  was  occupied  in  teaching  and  in 
theological  study.  He  united  with  the  church  on  profes- 
sion of  faith  in  Schenectady,  New  York,  in  1789.  He  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Middlesex  (Connecticut)  Asso- 
ciation of  Ministers  on  July  7,  1790.  On  August  23, 
1791,  he  preached  for  the  first  time  in  the  Congregational 
Church  in  East  Guilford,  now  Madison,  Connecticut,  and 
in  the  following  week  he  was  called  on  a  salary  of  £80,  to 
the  pastorate.  He  was  ordained  and  installed  on  Novem- 
ber 2  of  that  year, — the  church  then  consisting  of  eighty- 
four  members.  The  sermon  preached  on  the  occasion  by 
his  old  pastor,  Mr.  Mansfield,  was  afterwards  published. 

He  retained  his  office  till  the  day  of  his  death,  through 
a  period  of  thirty-three  years,  and  admitted  three  hundred 
and  thirty-five  members  to  his  church.  In  the  early  part 
of  his  ministry  he  also  took  pupils,  as  occasion  offered. 

In  September,  1812,  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
Corporation  of  Yale  College,  and  in  1816  a  member  of 
the  Prudential  Committee  of  that  body:  in  which  capaci- 
ties he  was  eminently  useful.  In  recognition  of  his  faith- 
fulness and  ability  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity  from  this  College  in  1822. 

His  health  began  to  decline  in  1823,  and  he  died,  in  East 
Guilford,  very  suddenly,  from  disease  of  the  heart,  on 
December  17,  1824,  in  his  57th  year.  The  sermon 
preached  at  his  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Professor  Eleazar  T. 
Fitch  was  afterwards  printed;  in  it  he  characterizes 
Dr.  Elliott  as  a  man  of  distinguished  prudence,  of 
upright  constancy,  of  affectionate  kindness,  of  peculiar 
sedateness  and  solemnity,  and  of  pious  devotion. 

In  person  he  was  tall  and  very  thin,  precise  in  speech, 
and  methodical  in  all  his  movements.  - 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  465 

He  was  married  in  Canaan,  Connecticut,  on  November 
27,  1793,  to  Sarah  (or  Sally),  daughter  of  Lot  and  Esther 
Norton,  of  Salisbury,  Connecticut.  They  had  no  children. 

Some  years  after  Dr.  Elliott's  death  she  returned  to  her 
native  place  and  married  General  Elisha  Sterling  (Yale 
1787),  of  Salisbury,  where  she  died  on  July  9,  1841,  aged 
75  years. 

He  published : 

1.  A  Discourse  [from  Joshua  xxiv,  29],  delivered  on  Saturday, 
February  22,  1800,  the  day  recommended  by  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  to  lament  the  death  and  pronounce  eulogies  on  the 
memory  of  General  George  Washington.       Hartford,  1800.       8°, 
pp.  23.  [Brown  Univ.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

2.  A  Discourse  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  the  Rev.  Amos  Fow- 
ler, Pastor  of  the  First  Church,  Guilford.     Middletown,  1800.     8°, 
pp.  26.  [Brown  Univ. 

Mr.  Fowler  (Yale  1743)  died  on  February  10,  1800. 

3.  A  Discourse  [from  i  Cor.  vii,  29]  delivered  on  the  first  Sab- 
bath after  the  commencement  of  the  year  1802.     Middletown,  1802. 
8°,  pp.  39.  [C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  is  mainly  devoted  to  the  history  of  Guilford  and 
East  Guilford. 

4.  A  Discourse  occasioned  by  the  Death  of  Mrs.  Mabel  Lee. 
Middletown,  1802.     8°,  pp.  27.  [Brown  Univ. 

5.  A  Discourse  [from  2  Cor.  xii,  15]  delivered  at  the  Ordination 
of  the  Rev.  David  D.  Field,  .  .  in  Haddam,  April  n,  1804.     Middle- 
town,  1805.     8°,  pp.  28. 

[A.  C.  A.    Broum  Univ.     M.  H.  S.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pp.  1-23.  Mr.  Field  had  been  a  pupil  of  Dr. 
Elliott. 

6.  The  Providence  of  God  universal;   a  Sermon  [from  Matt,  x, 
29-30],  delivered  at  East-Guilford,  Feb.  1807.     Occasioned  by  the 
death  of  Capt.  William  Whittlesey  and  others.     New-Haven,  1807. 
8°,  pp.  24.  [Y.  C. 

7.  The  deep  anxiety  of  a  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel  for  the 
welfare  of  his  people. — A  Sermon  [from  2  Peter,  i,  15],  delivered 
at  the  interment  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Wells  Bray,  Pastor  of  the 
Third  Church  in  Guilford,  April  25th,  1808.      New-Haven,  1808. 
8°,  pp.  30.  [U.T.S.     Y.C. 

30 


466  Yale  College 

8.  The  gracious  presence  of  God,  the  highest  felicity  and  security 
of  any  people. — A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  xlvi,  1-5],  preached  ...  on 
the  Anniversary  Election,  May  loth,  1810.     Hartford,  1810.     8°, 
PP-  52. 

[A.  A.  S.     A.  C.  A.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 
U.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

9.  A  Sermon   [from  Rom.  xi,  13],  preached  at  the  Installation 
of  the  Rev.  Philander  Parmelee,  . .  in  Bolton,  November  8,  1815. 
Hartford,  1816.    8°,  pp.  23. 

[Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

10.  A  Sermon  [from  i  Cor.  xii,  27]  delivered  before  the  Con- 
sociation of  the  Eastern  District  of  New-Haven  County,  in  Meriden, 
September  30,  1817.     Hartford,  1818.     12°,  pp.  21. 

[A.C.A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

An  exposition  and  defence  of  the  system  of  consociation. 

11.  A  Sermon  [from  Acts  xx,  26],  delivered  in  New-Haven,  at 
the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Eleazer  Thompson  Fitch,  Professor  of 
Divinity  in  Yale-College,  November  5,  1817.     Hartford,  1818.     8°, 
pp.  26. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     Harv. 
M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

12.  A  Sermon  [from  Prov.  xiv,  32]  delivered  on  the  next  Lord's 
Day  after  the  death  of  Jonathan  Todd,  Esquire,  who  departed  this 
life  February  10,  1819.     Hartford,  1819.     8°,  pp.  31. 

[Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

He  also  published,  in  conjunction  with  Samuel  Johnson,  Junior, 
the  following: — 

A  selected,  pronouncing  and  accented  Dictionary.  Comprising  a 
Selection  of  the  choicest  Words  found  in  the  best  English  Authors. 
Being  an  Abridgement  of  the  most  useful  Dictionaries  now  extant ; 
together  with  the  addition  of  a  number  of  words  now  in  vogue  not 
found  in  any  Dictionary.  .  .  Designed  for  the  use  of  schools  in 
America.  Suffield,  1800.  Oblong  16°,  pp.  16,  223. 

[N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     Y.  C. 

The  same.  Second  Edition.  Suffield,  1800.  Obi.  16°,  pp.  32, 
203.  [Harv.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  U.  S. 

The  book  is  properly  a  second,  enlarged  edition  of  a  School 
Dictionary,  compiled  and  published  in  1798  by  Samuel  Johnson, 
Junior,  who  was  a  teacher  (born  1757,  died  1836)  in  Guilford. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  467 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,    Early     Conn.     Marriages,  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  134, 

vii,  73.    Eliot  Genealogy,  77,  96-100;  217,  433.     Todd,  Life  of  John  Todd, 

2d  ed.,  76,  112-14.    Ely  Ancestry,  164-  51-52.    25oth   Anniversary   of    Guil- 

65.     Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  ford,   29-32,   279.     Wai-worth,   Hyde 

Pulpit,  ii,  321-23.    Steiner,  Hist,  of  Genealogy,  ii,  842. 
Guilford,  355-57,  361,  455,  489,  SOL 


JONATHAN  ELLIS,  sixth  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Ellis 
(Harvard  Coll.  1750),  of  Franklin,  then  part  of  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Caleb  Ellis,  of  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  was  born  on  April  n,  1762. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Windham  Association  of  Ministers  on 
May  15,  1787. 

In  July,  1788,  he  began  to  preach  in  Topsham,  Maine, 
as  a  candidate  for  settlement  over  the  Congregational 
Church.  Later  in  the  year  he  was  called  to  settle  there, 
on  a  salary  of  £85,  but  he  declined  the  call. 

On  June  9,  1789,  the  town  gave  him  another  call,  which 
he  accepted;  and  his  ordination  took  place  on  September 
1 6.  The  sermon  on  this  occasion,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew 
Lee  (Yale  1766),  was  afterwards  published.  In  the 
mean  time,  however,  over  one-third  of  the  parish  had  voted 
to  withdraw,  if  Mr.  Ellis  was  settled,  which  led  to  the 
incorporation  of  a  Baptist  Society.  This  separation,  and 
other  causes,  resulted  in  the  gradual  dwindling  away  of 
the  society,  and  consequent  difficulties  in  the  payment  of 
the  minister's  salary.  He  was  obliged  for  a  portion  of  the 
time  to  teach  school  in  addition  to  his  parochial  duties; 
and  in  September,  1799,  ne  was  informally  dismissed. 

He  continued,  however,  to  reside  in  Topsham,  and  was 
active  in  local  affairs.  In  1802  he  was  a  member  of  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  one  of  the 
original  Board  of  Overseers  of  Bowdoin  College  in  1794, 
and  its  first  secretary,  and  a  member  of  the  examining 
committee  until  he  resigned  these  offices  in  1811;  he  was 


468  Yale  College 

a  candidate  for  the  Professorship  of  Languages  in  1802, 
being  a  good  superior  Latin  scholar,  but  a  recent  Harvard 
graduate  received  the  appointment. 

In  August,  1811,  he  left  Topsham,  unaccompanied  by 
any  member  of  his  family,  and  never  returned.  He  was 
for  some  time  engaged  in  teaching  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
his  family  received  occasional  letters  from  him,  up  to 
April,  1827,  when  he  wrote  for  the  last  time,  from  Dela- 
ware. 

He  married  in  1790  Mary,  daughter  of  Robert  and 
Sarah  (Patten)  Fulton,  of  Topsham,  who  died  in  Upper 
Stillwater,  Maine,  on  March  n,  1860,  at  the  age  of  91. 
They  had  seven  sons  and  three  daughters.  Three  sons 
were  sailors,  and  were  lost  at  sea.  Another  son  was 
graduated  M.D.  at  Bowdoin  in  1832,  and  the  youngest 
son  became  a  Baptist  minister. 

He  published : 

1.  An  Eulogical  Poem,  on  General  George  Washington,  .  .     pro- 
nounced at  Topsham,  February  22d,  1800.   . .     Portland.     8°,  pp. 
24.  [M.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  H.  S. 

As  a  prefatory  note  states,  this  poem  was  produced  at  ten  days' 
notice.  The  plan  is  mainly  biographical.  The  quality  may  be 
judged  from  the  concluding  lines,  as  follows: — 

In  midst  of  sorrow  let  our  thanks  arise, 

To  him  who  rules  on  earth,  and  rolls  the  skies. 

Tis  he  each  blessing  takes,  each  blessing  gives, 

Tho'   Washington's   no  more,   our   virtuous   Adams   lives. 

The  copy  in  the  Library  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  has 
several  manuscript  corrections  by  the  author. 

2.  An  Oration  delivered  at  the  Court-House  in  Topsham,  July 
4th,  1806,  on  the  anniversary  of  our  National  Independence,  before 
the  Federal  Republicans  of  Brunswick  and  Topsham.       Portland, 
1806.     8°,  pp.  16.  [A.  A.  S. 

A  letter  from  him,  dated  April  25,  1794,  and  addressed  to  the 
Hon.  James  Sullivan,  was  published  in  the  Collections  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society,  volume  3,  pp.  141-43,  with  the  title: — 

A  Topographical  Description  of  Topsham,  in  the  County  of 
Lincoln. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  469 

The  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  which  he  gave  at  the  Ordination 
of  Joshua  Cushman,  in  Winslow,  Maine,  on  June  10,  1795,  was 
printed  (pp.  35-36)  in  1796,  with  the  Sermon  on  that  occasion  by 
the  Rev.  Kilborn  Whitman. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dr.  A.  Ellis,  MS.  Letters,  Apr.  3,      wick,  Topsham,  and  Hartwell,  409-14, 
1856,   and  Febr.   15,   1877.    Sprague,      738-39,  833-34.     Woodward,  Hist,  of 
Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  i,  609;       Franklin,  68-69. 
vi,   827.     Wheeler,   Hist,   of    Bruns- 


BENJAMIN  ELY,  the  third  son  of  Captain  Ezra  Cullick 
Ely,  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  July  18,  1767. 
His  mother,  Anne  Sterling,  was  a  sister  of  Captain  Ely's 
first  wife,  who  was  the  mother  of  the  Rev.  Zebulon  Ely 
(Yale  1779). 

He  spent  his  life  mainly  as  a  successful  teacher,  being 
employed  among  other  places  in  Lebanon  (where  his  half- 
brother  was  settled),  Granby,  Canton,  and  Simsbury, 
Connecticut,  and  in  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore. 

He  married  in  Bloomfield,  Connecticut,  on  April  14, 
1796,  Polly,  daughter  of  Dudley  and  Mary  (Latimer) 
Pettibone,  of  Simsbury. 

He  was  town-clerk  of  Simsbury  in  1812-14. 

He  died  in  Bloomfield,  from  an  attack  of  dysentery,  on 
August  26,  1852,  at  the  age  of  85  years. 

His  wife  died  on  June  17,  1850,  in  her  74th  year.  Their 
children  were  six  sons  and  three  daughters. 

He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  and  an  active 
Christian,  urbane  and  benevolent. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Ely  Ancestry,  99,  181.     Simsbury  Records,  269. 


JOHN  ELY,  the  eldest  child  of  Deacon  Seth  Ely,  of  North 
Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  nephew  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Ely 
(Yale  1754),  and  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  David  Ely  (Yale  1769), 


47°  Yale  College 

was  born  on  June  14,  1763.  His  mother  was  Lydia,  sixth 
daughter  of  John  and  Lydia  (Lord)  Reynolds,  of  Nor- 
wich, Connecticut.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by  his 
uncle  Richard.  He  united  with  the  College  Church,  on 
profession  of  his  faith,  in  July  of  his  Freshman  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Middlesex  Association  of  Ministers,  on 
June  3,  1788.  On  September  6,  1791,  he  was  called  to 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Bethel,  then  a  parish  in 
Danbury,  Connecticut,  and  having  accepted  the  invitation 
on  November  3,  he  was  ordained  on  November  30.  The 
sermon  was  preached  by  his  uncle,  the  Rev.  David  Ely. 

In  1802  some  excitement  arose,  on  account  of  an 
anonymous  letter,  believed  to  have  emanated  from  the 
pastor,  which  reflected  strongly  on  certain  persons  in  the 
parish :  so  that,  in  November,  the  Society  voted  that  they 
did  not  wish  him  to  continue  as  their  minister.  This  vote 
was  reconsidered,  and  a  committee  raised  to  call  a  mutual 
council ;  but  on  December  28,  Mr.  Ely  made  a  communica- 
tion to  the  church,  expressing  his  anxiety  for  a  reconcilia- 
tion, and  admitting  certain  past  imprudences.  A  sort  of 
reconciliation  was  patched  up,  but  the  difficulty  was  not 
wholly  surmounted,  and  on  January  26,  1804,  the  Society 
voted  to  ask  Mr.  Ely  to  join  them  in  calling  the  Consocia- 
tion to  consider  his  dismission,  and  the  Church  concurred 
in  this  action  on  February  13. 

The  Consociation  met,  and  dismissed  the  pastoral  rela- 
tion on  June  7. 

On  the  28th  of  the  following  November  he  was  installed 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  South  Salem,  West- 
chester  County,  New  York,  which  then  numbered  forty- 
nine  members.  His  annual  salary  was  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars,  with  the  use  of  the  parsonage  and  his  fire- 
wood. 

He  was  dismissed  from  South  Salem  in  December,  1811, 
having  admitted  fifty-seven  persons  to  the  church  during 
his  pastorate. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  471 

He  then  returned  to  Connecticut,  and  on  October  14, 
1812,  he  was  installed  over  the  small  Congregational 
Church  in  the  parish  of  North  Bristol,  in  Guilford,  now 
North  Madison,  where  his  uncle,  Richard  Ely,  had  for- 
merly ministered. 

After  fifteen  years'  service  it  seemed  best  to  him  to 
resign,  and  to  remove  to  Central  New  York,  where  one  of 
his  sons  was  lately  settled;  but  while  making  arrange- 
ments for  this  removal,  he  was  thrown  violently  from  his 
wagon  in  Madison,  by  the  horse  taking  fright,  on  Novem- 
ber 5,  1827,  and  after  lingering  for  four  days  in  a  helpless 
condition,  with  little  if  any  exercise  of  reason,  expired  on 
November  9,  in  his  65th  year. 

He  is  characterized  as  a  prudent,  judicious  minister. 

He  married,  on  January  25,  or  26,  1791,  Mary,  daughter 
of  Captain  Abner  and  Temperance  (Colt)  Lord,  of  Lyme, 
by  whom  he  had  eleven  children,  of  whom  five  sons  and 
one  daughter  reached  maturity.  She  died  in  1841,  aged 
77  years. 

He  published: 

1.  A  Sermon  [from  Rom.  xiii,  3-4],  Delivered  in  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Danbury,  November  25,  1798:   it  being  the  Day 
appointed  on  which  the  Address   from  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut  was  to  be  read  unto  the  People  assembled  for  Public 
Worship   through   the    State:    And.  also   in   the    Second   Presby- 
terian Church  in  Danbury,  December  9,  1798.     Danbury,  1799.     8°, 
pp.  14-  [C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

On  behalf  of  the  execution  of  the  laws  against  vice. 

2.  Blessedness  of  the  Saints. — A  Sermon   [from  Rev.  xiv,  13], 
delivered  on  the  Lord's  Day  at  the  Funeral  of  Captain  Joseph  Starr, 
who  departed  this  life  April  the  3d  1802  . .     Danbury,  1802.     12°, 
PP-  23-  [Y.  C. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Hist,  of  Danbury,  530.    Ely  Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,   i,   175. 

Ancestry,  104-05,  191.    Hickok,  Cen-  Webster,   Hist,   of  the   Presbyterian 

tury      Sermon      at      Bethel,      11-13.  Church  of  South  Salem,   14,  32,  49, 

Steiner,     Hist,     of     Guilford,     366.  65. 


47 2  Yale  College 

BENJAMIN  JOSEPH  GILBERT,  the  second  son  and  child 
of  Colonel  Joseph  Gilbert,  of  North  Brookfield,  Massachu- 
setts, and  grandson  of  Benjamin  Gilbert,  of  Ipswich  and 
Brookfield,  was  born  on  October  5,  1764.  His  mother  was 
Hannah  Wheat,  of  Boston,  whose  first  husband  was  Dr. 
Benjamin  Gott,  Junior,  of  Brookfield. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  Dwight 
Foster  (Brown  Univ.  1774),  of  West  Brookfield. 

He  established  himself  as  a  practitioner  in  Hanover, 
New  Hampshire,  about  1790,  and  on  August  2,  1796,  was 
married  in  Boston  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  West  to  Sally 
Shepard. 

He  was  appointed  County  Solicitor  in  1799;  and  elected 
a  Representative  in  the  State  Legislature  in  1800  and  1801, 
a  member  of  the  Executive  Council  in  1809  and  1810,  and 
Representative  again  in  1817  and  1818.  He  was  also  a 
Presidential  Elector  in  1816. 

When  the  controversies  respecting  Dartmouth  College 
arose,  he  was  interested  in  behalf  of  the  old  College  and 
against  the  new  University.  In  connection  with  others, 
as  a  committee  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Hanover, 
he  issued 

A  True  and  Concise  Narrative,  of  the  Origin  and  Progress  of 
the  Church  Difficulties,  in  the  Vicinity  of  Dartmouth  College,  in 
Hanover  ...  By  Benoni  Dewey,  James  Wheelock,  and  Ben.  J. 
Gilbert  .  .  Hanover,  1815.  8°,  pp.  68. 

[B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Y.  C. 

An  accident  rendered  him  nearly  deaf,  and  his  business 
fell  off  in  consequence ;  opportunely,  his  wife  inherited  in 
1824  a  plantation  and  considerable  property  from  a 
brother  in  Richmond,  Virginia.  Thereupon  Mr.  Gilbert 
removed  to  Boston,  and  was  employed  for  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  the  care  of  his  wife's  property. 

He  died  in  Boston  on  December  30,  1849,  m  ms 
year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  473 

He  had  nine  children,  of  whom  only  three  sons  and  one 
daughter  reached  maturity. 

Mr.  Gilbert  is  commemorated  in  Bell's  Bench  and  Bar 
of  New  Hampshire,  where  it  is  said  of  him : — 

He  is  represented  as  having  been  the  best  lawyer  in  Hanover,  of 
his  time,  and  was  commonly  called  Baron  Gilbert,  as  well  on  account 
of  his  superior  legal  knowledge,  as  of  his  loud  voice  and  slightly 
pompous  manner.  .  .  He  is  said  to  have  gained  the  popular  desig- 
nation of  "the  honest  lawyer." 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bell,  Bench  and  Bar  of  N.  Hamp-'      missioners,  3oth  Report,  137.     Tern- 
shire,  394-95.     Boston  Record  Com-       pie,  Hist,  of  North  Brookfield,  601. 


THOMAS  RUGGLES  GOLD,,  the  fourth  son  and  child  of  the 
Rev.  Hezekiah  Gold  (Yale  1751),  of  Cornwall,  Litchfield 
County,  Connecticut,  and  a  brother  of  Thomas  Gold  (Yale 
1778),  was  born  in  Cornwall  on  November  4,  1764.  The 
promise  (never  fulfilled)  of  a  gift  of  a  library  from  his 
great-uncle,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Ruggles  (Yale  1723),  for 
his  name,  was  the  reason  for  a  second  Thomas  in  the  same 
family.  He  was  distinguished  while  in  College  for  clas- 
sical scholarship,  and  pronounced  a  Greek  Oration  at 
graduation. 

He  studied  law,  and  settled  in  its  practice  in  Goshen,  the 
town  adjoining  Cornwall  on  the  east,  where  he  married, 
about  1787,  Sarah,  elder  daughter  of  Dr.  Elisha  Sill 
(Yale  1754). 

In  1792,  when  the  Whitestown  country,  in  what  is  now 
Oneida  County,  New  York,  was  being  settled,  he  removed 
to  Whitesboro,  and  established  himself  there  in  the  profes- 
sion of  the  law. 

He  soon  acquired  a  high  position,  and  for  a  time  stood 
at  the  head  of  the  bar  in  Central  New  York.  In  1796  he 
was  elected  to  the  State  Senate,  of  which  he  continued  a 
member  until  April,  1802.  For  most  of  this  time  (1797- 
1801)  he  was  also  Assistant  Attorney-General. 


474  Yale  College 

In  1800  he  formed  a  law-partnership  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  Theodore  Sill  (Yale  1797),  and  the  firm  was  for 
the  next  quarter  of  a  century  very  widely  and  favorably 
known,  and  many  candidates  for  the  bar  pursued  with 
them  their  legal  studies. 

Mr.  Gold  was  a  close  law  student  and  a  man  of  untiring 
industry.  He  had  an  analytical  mind,  and  his  mode  of 
address  to  the  Court  and  jury  was  earnest,  forcible,  and 
somewhat  vehement,  though  not  remarkable  for  ease  or 
eloquence. 

In  1804  he  ran  for  Congress,  but  was  unsuccessful.  In 
1807  he  was  elected  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State. 
The  next  year  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  in  which  he 
served  for  two  terms,  from  May,  1809,  to  March,  1813. 
In  consequence  of  a  change  in  Congressional  districts,  the 
next  election  was  in  the  hands  of  a  new  constituency,  and 
Mr.  Gold  was  beaten.  He  was,  however,  successful  in 
the  following  election,  and  served  from  December,  1815, 
to  March,  1817. 

During  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  became  a  Christian 
believer. 

He  died  quite  suddenly,  from  paralysis,  in  Whitesboro, 
on  October  24,  1827,  at  the  age  of  63.  Neither  his 
physical  nor  mental  vigor  had  at  that  time  become 
impaired. 

His  widow  died  in  Whitesboro,  on  July  13,  1852,  aged  88 
years. 

Their  children  were  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  all 
of  whom  reached  maturity,  except  the  eldest  son,  who  died 
in  infancy.  The  eldest  daughter  married  the  Rev.  John 
Frost  (Middlebury  Coll.  1806).  The  second  son  was 
graduated  at  Hamilton  College  in  1816. 

He  published: 

i.  To  the  People  of  the  County  of  Oneida.  . .  1800.  sm.  4°, 
pp.  28.  [B.  Publ.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  N.  Y.  State  Libr. 

Respecting  the  location  of  the  Court-House. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  475 

2.  Address  delivered  before  the  Agricultural  Society  for  the 
County  of  Oneida,  at  Whitestown,  October  18,  1820.  Utica,  1820. 
8°,  pp.  21.  [N.  Y.  H.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bacon,  Early  Bar  of  Oneida,  16.  ety's  Transactions,  ii,  90-95.  Pres. 
Gold,  Hist,  of  Cornwall,  291,  294^-95.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  217,  238. 
P.  Jones,  Annals  of  Oneida  County,  Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  ii,  823- 
795-96-  Oneida  County  Hist.  Soci-  24. 


CHARLES  AUGUSTUS  GOODRICH,  the  fifth  son  and  child 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elizur  Goodrich  (Yale  1752),  was  born  in 
Durham,  Connecticut,  on  March  2,  1768. 

While  in  College  he  had  chosen  the  ministry  as  a  pro- 
fession ;  but  soon  after  graduation,  by  reason  of  too  close 
application,  he  broke  down  nervously,  and  for  the  rest 
of  his  life  was  permanently  deranged. 

For  several  years  he  resided  with  his  elder  brother,  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Goodrich  (Yale  1783),  pastor  at  Ridgefield, 
Connecticut,  with  whose  family  he  was  generally  able  to 
mingle,  though  at  intervals  subject  to  severe  attacks  of  his 
malady. 

In  his  last  days  the  clouds  were  lifted,  and  he  realized 
his  condition  with  calmness  and  composure.  He  died  on 
September  8,  1804,  m  ms  37th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Case,  Goodrich  Family,  76.    Fowler,  Chauncey  Memorials,  156,  168-69. 


NATHANIEL  GRIPPING,  son  of  Jasper  and  Rachel  Grif- 
fing,  of  Guilford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Guilford,  on 
January  26,  1767.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Ebene- 
zer  Lee.  He  was  chosen  by  his  class  to  deliver  the  Latin 
Valedictory  Oration  on  Class  Day  before  graduation. 

He  became  a  successful  merchant  in  Guilford,  and  was 
for  many  years  its  leading  citizen.  In  politics  he  was  a 
strong  Federalist,  and  he  represented  the  town  in  the  Gen- 


47 6  Yale  College 

eral  Assembly  in  twenty-three  sessions  between  1805  and 
1836.  He  was  also  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  1818. 

He  was  during  his  life  a  liberal  giver  to  all  good  causes 
in  the  town  and  the  church ;  and  after  his  death  his  widow 
established  in  1854  by  a  gift  of  land  and  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  in  money  an  institution  for  higher  education  in 
Guilford. 

He  was  one  of  the  Associate  Judges  of  the  New  .Haven 
County  Court  from  1811  to  1818. 

He  died  very  suddenly,  from  paralysis,  while  on  a  visit 
in  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  on  September  17,  1845, 
in  his  79th  year. 

Judge  Griffing  was  a  man  of  great  private  worth  and 
sterling  integrity,  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school  and  widely 
respected  for  his  intelligence,  good  sense,  and  moral 
uprightness. 

He  married,  on  November  3,  1787,  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Samuel  Brown. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  four  sons. 
Three  of  the  daughters  and  the  youngest  son  died  in 
infancy. 

Mrs.  Griffing  died  on  June  I,  1865,  at  tne  age  °f  98. 


AUTHORITIES. 

New  Haven  Daily  Palladium,  Sept.  Guilford,  148-49,  277,  404,  479,  516. 
19,  1845.  B.  C.  Steiner,  MS.  Letter,  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  233. 
Ncv.  7,  1906.  L.  H.  Steiner,  Hist,  of 


STANLEY  GRISWOLD,  second  son  and  fourth  child  of 
Shubael  Griswold,  a  wealthy  farmer  of  Torrington,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Shubael  and  Phebe  (Cornish) 
Griswold,  of  Windsor,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  Novem- 
ber 14,  1763.  His  mother  was  Abigail,  eldest  daughter 
of  Timothy  and  Mary  (Mygatt)  Stanley,  of  Harwinton, 
Connecticut.  He  served  for  several  campaigns  in  the 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  477 

Revolution,  under  his  father  as  Captain,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  injuries  then  received  exchanged  his  prospect  of 
a  small  patrimony  for  a  College  education.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  College  Church,  on  profession  of  his  faith, 
in  July  of  his  Freshman  year.  He  was  distinguished  as 
a  scholar  in  the  languages  while  in  College. 

On  graduation  he  went  to  Norwich,  Connecticut,  as 
Principal  of  an  Academy,  and  in  1787  began  the  study  of 
theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  David  McClure  (Yale  1769), 
of  East  Windsor. 

In  1789  he  began  preaching,  and  soon  after  declined  a 
call  to  Lyme,  Connecticut,  going  thence  to  the  Congrega- 
tional Society  of  New  Milford,  Connecticut,  where  the 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Nathanael  Taylor  (Yale  1745),  had  con- 
sented to  the  settlement  of  a  colleague.  On  August  17  a 
call  to  Mr.  Griswold  was  voted,  with  a  salary  of  £100,  and 
he  was  ordained  and  installed  on  January  20,  1790.  The 
sermon  on  this  occasion,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  McClure,  was 
afterwards  printed. 

He  soon  proved  to  be  a  very  popular  preacher,  being  a 
good  writer  and  an  easy  and  graceful  speaker,  with  the 
advantage  of  a  good  voice  and  fine  personal  appearance. 
When  first  settled  he  was  regarded  as  a  Calvinist;  but 
seven  years  later,  in  1797,  charges  of  his  unsoundness  in 
doctrine  were  present  to  the  Litchfield  South  Association 
of  Ministers, — the  special  points  alleged  being  that  his 
preaching  was  inconsistent  with  the  doctrine  of  total 
depravity,  and  that  he  advocated  universal  salvation.  He 
declined  to  stand  formal  trial  as  an  accused  person;  and 
was  expelled  by  the  Association,  in  July,  1797,  from  its 
membership.  The  most  influential  members  of  his  church 
and  congregation,  however,  stood  by  him  in  this  crisis, 
and  he  continued  to  hold  his  office  for  five  years  longer. 
Meantime  the  senior  pastor  died,  in  December,  1800. 

The  movement  of  his  fellow-ministers  against  him  was 
no  doubt  due  in  part  to  a  recognition  of  other  tendencies 


47 8  Yale  College 

which  soon  became  apparent.  In  general  they  were  sup- 
porters of  the  Federalist  party,  but  Mr.  Griswold  early 
identified  himself  with  the  opposite  side,  which  was  espe- 
cially active  in  advocating  a  separation  of  Church  and 
State  and  the  consequent  deposition  of  the  Congregational 
ministry  from  their  accustomed  primacy. 

His  attitude  was  definitely  taken  in  his  appearance  as 
the  preacher  at  a  Democratic  Jubilee  in  Wallingford,  in 
March,  1801,  in  honor  of  Jefferson's  election  as  President. 

Before  taking  this  step  he  had  probably  decided  on 
laying  down  the  pastorate;  and  accordingly  in  the  early 
summer  of  1802  he  quietly  retired  from  the  pulpit,  with- 
out a  formal  dismission. 

He  subsequently  preached  for  a  short  time  at  Greenfield 
Hill,  in  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  but  without  any  design  of 
being  settled;  and  soon  after  abandoned  the  pulpit 
altogether. 

In  1803  he  went  to  Walpole,  New  Hampshire,  to  edit 
a  new  weekly  democratic  newspaper,  The  Political  Obser- 
vatory, which  was  started  there  on  November  19,  in 
opposition  to  a  Federalist  paper  in  the  same  town,  The 
Farmer's  Weekly  Museum,  which  had  had  a  remarkably 
brilliant  history. 

From  this  situation  he  was  called  on  March  i,  1805,  by 
President  Jefferson  to  the  secretaryship  of  the  newly 
organized  Michigan  Territory,  with  residence  in  Detroit, 
on  a  salary  of  $750.  He  accepted  the  appointment,  but 
lack  of  harmony  with  the  Governor,  William  Hull  (Yale 
1772),  led  to  his  forced  resignation  in  March,  1808.  Dur- 
ing Hull's  absence  he  was  Acting  Governor  in  1805-06. 

He  then  took  up  his  residence  in  Ohio,  and  in  1809 
received  from  Governor  Samuel  Huntington  (Yale  1785), 
the  appointment  of  Senator  in  Congress,  to  fill  a  vacancy 
for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

In  March,  1810,  he  was  nominated  by  President  Madi- 
son and  confirmed  by  the  Senate  as  United  States  Judge 
for  the  Northwestern  Territory. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  479 

He  was  destined,  however,  to  occupy  this  post  but  a 
short  time. .  While  on  a  judicial  circuit,  he  contracted  a 
fever  which  terminated  fat.ally.  He  died  at  Shawnee- 
town,  on  the  Ohio  River,  in  southeastern  Illinois,  on 
August  21,  1815,  in  his  52d  year.  In  this  later  portion  of 
his  life  he  retained  his  interest  in  religious  things,  and 
in  1814  was  an  active  friend  to  the  missionary  enterprise 
undertaken  in  the  Western  country  by  Samuel  J.  Mills 
(Williams  College  1809). 

He  married,  on  August  5,  1789,  Elizabeth  Flagg,  of 
East  Hartford,  Connecticut,  who  died  in  East  Hartford, 
on  August  15,  1822,  at  the  age  of  52. 

They  had  several  children. 

He  published : 

1.  A  Statement  of  the  singular  manner  of  proceeding  of  the  Rev. 
Association,  of  the  South  part  of  Litchfield  County,  in  an  Ecclesias- 
tical Prosecution,  by  them  instituted  against  the  Rev.  Stanley  Gris- 

v  wold    .  . .    — With  a  subsequent  Address  to   said  Association,  by 
Nehemiah  Strong  . .     Hartford,  1798.    8°,  pp.  32. 

[M.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

2.  A  Funeral  Eulogium  [from  Daniel  v,  n],  pronounced  at  New- 
Milford,  on  the  Twenty-second  of  February,  1800;   being  the  day 
recommended  by  Congress   for  publicly  testifying  respect  to  the 
Memory    of    George    Washington.       Being    also    his    Birth-Day. 
Litchfield.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     M.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  PubL  Libr.     U.  S. 

3.  Truth  its  own  test  and  God  its  only  Judge.     Or,  an  Inquiry, — 
how    far   men   may    claim   authority   over   each   other's    religious 
opinions?    A  Discourse  [from  James  iv,  11-12],  delivered  at  New- 
Milford,  October  I2th,  1800.     Bridgeport,  1800.     8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.     C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  PubL  Libr. 
[R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

Largely  an  argument  against  the  alliance  of  Church  and  State. 

4.  The  good  Man's  Prospects  in  the  Hour  of  Death; — and  his 
Voice    from   the   World   beyond. — Two    Discourses    [from    Deut. 
xxxiv,  1-5,  and  Hebr.  xi,  4],  delivered  at  New-Milford,  Dec.  I4th, 


480  Yale  College 

1800.      Being  the    Sabbath   next   after   the   decease   of   the   Rev. 
Nathanael  Taylor  .  .     Litchfield,  1801.    8°,  pp.  32. 

[C.  H.  S.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

5.  Overcoming  Evil  with  Good. — A  Sermon  [Rom.  xii,  14-21], 
delivered  at  Wallingford,  Connecticut,  March  u,  1801 ;    before  a 
numerous  collection  of  the  friends  of  the  Constitution,  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,   President,  and  of  Aaron  Burr,  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States.     Hartford,  1801.     8°,  pp.  36. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S. 
Y.C. 

Reprinted  at  New  Haven  in  1845  (8°,  pp.  24),  with  the  legend 
on  the  cover,  "Let  every  American  Citizen  Purchase  and  Read." 

An  exhortation  to  unity,  instead  of  partisan  triumph. 

6.  The  Good  Land  we  live  in. — A  Sermon  [from  Deut.  viii,  7-14], 
delivered  at  Suffield  (Connecticut)  on  the  Celebration  of  the  Anni- 
versary of  American  Independence.     July  7th,  1802.     Suffield,  1802. 
8°,  pp.  29. 

[A.  A.  S.     A.  C.  A.     Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

A  truly  Christian  sermon. 

7.  Infidelity  not  the  only  enemy  of  Christianity,  or,  Hypocrisy 
and  Antichrist  exposed.     A  Discourse    [from   i    Cor.  in,    11-15], 
delivered    at    New-Haven    on    the    evening    preceding   the    public 
Commencement,  September  I3th,  1803.      New-Haven,   1803.      8°, 
pp.  24.  [B.  Ath.     C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

8.  The  Exploits  of  our   Fathers,  or   a  concise   history  of  the 
Military  Events  of  our  Revolutionary  War.     An  Oration  delivered 
at   Cincinnati    (Ohio)    July   3d,    1813    (the  4th  being  Sunday)    in 
celebration  of  the  thirty-seventh  Anniversary  of  American  Inde- 
pendence.    Cincinnati.     12°,  pp.  27.  [Y.  C. 

Notice  should  also  be  made  of  the  following,  supposed  to  be 
edited  by  Abraham  Bishop : — 

Church  and  State,  a  political  union,  formed  by  the  enemies  of 
both.  Illustrated  by  Correspondencies  between  the  Rev.  Stanley 
Griswold,  and  the  Rev.  Dan  Huntington,  and  between  Col.  Ephraim 
Kirby,  and  the  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman.  1802.  8°,  pp.  60. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  481 

Three  letters  of  Griswold  and  one  of  Huntington  (in  Sept.-Nov., 
1801)  occupy  pp.  5-31.  They  relate  to  rumors  of  a  denial  of 
Christianity  by  Mr.  Griswold. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Aldrich,    Walpole,    88.      Campbell,  Smith,  Report  of  Missionary  Tour, 

Outlines    of    Polit.    Hist,    of    Michi-  u,  13.     W.  H.  Moore,  Torringford 

gan,  237.     Centennial  Anniversary  of  Centennial,  66-67.     Orcutt,  Hist,  of 

North    and   South   Consociations   of  New    Milford,    256-73,    597-99,    708. 

Litchfield    County,    69-70.      N.    Ed-  Pease  and  Niles,  Gazetteer  of  Conn. 

wards,     Papers,      101-02.       Farmer,  and   R.    L,   262.     Reynolds,    Pioneer 

Hist,   of    Detroit   and   Michigan,   2d  Hist,    of    Illinois,   402.    Pres.   Stiles, 

ed.,  i,  23,  88,  95,  316-17.     Kilbourne,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  78,  129,  134,  217, 

Litchfield  Biography,  84-88.     Michi-  248,  366.     Warren,  Stanley  Families, 

gan    Pioneer    and    Hist.    Collections,  243. 
xv,  27-28,  34.      5".  /.  Mills  and  D. 


WILLIAM  BRENTON  HALL,  the  eldest  child  of  Brenton 
Hall,  a  farmer  of  Meriden,  then  part  of  Wallingford,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hall  (Yale 
1716),  of  Cheshire,  was  born  in  Meriden  on  May  31,  1764. 
His  mother  was  Lament,  eldest  child  of  Captain  Jonathan 
and  Agnes  (Linn)  Collins,  of  Wallingford. 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation  in  part,  it  is  sup- 
posed, with  Dr.  Nicholas  Romayne,  of  New  York  City,  and 
began  practice  in  Wallingford,  removing  to  the  adjoining 
town  of  Middletown  in  1790.  With  these  exceptional 
advantages  of  education  he  made  surgery  a  specialty,  and 
was  also  among  the  earliest  to  practice  vaccination  in  cases 
of  small-pox.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Medical  Society,  from  the  beginning,  and  its  Treasurer 
from  1799  until  his  death.  A  succession  of  young  men 
studied  medicine  under  his  direction. 

His  health  failed,  from  over-zeal  and  exposure,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1808;  but  he  was  able  to  attend  to  his  business  to 
some  extent  during  the  ensuing  winter.  He  died  in 
Middletown,  somewhat  suddenly,  on  July  29,  1809,  in  his 
46th  year. 
31 


482  Yale  College 

His  excellent  social  position  was  improved  still  further 
by  his  marriage,  on  March  7,  1796,  to  Mehetabel,  second 
daughter  of  Major  General  Samuel  H.  Parsons  (Harvard 
Coll.  1756),  of  Middletown,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter, 
who  died  in  infancy,  and  two  sons.  Two  grandsons  were 
graduates  of  Yale,  in  1848  and  1856,  respectively. 

Mrs.  Hall  died  in  Middletown,  on  November  I,  1828, 
aged  nearly  56  years. 

A  miniature  portrait  of  Dr.  Hall  is  copied  in  Hall's 
Genealogical  Notes. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,       try,  368,  376-85.    D.  B.  Hall,  Halls 
115.       Conn.     Med.     Society's     Pro-       of  N.  E.,  107,  117.     T.  P.  Hall,  Gen- 
ceedings,  1877,  145-47;    1892,  552-53.       ealogical  Notes,  49-53,  161-63.     Wai- 
Field,  Centennial  Address  at  Middle-      worth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  ii,  912. 
town,  197.    C.  S.  Hall,  Hall  Ances- 


EDWARD  HALSEY,  of  Southampton,  Long  Island,  was 
prepared  for  College  by  Silvanus  White  of  that  town. 

No  details  are  known  of  his  life  after  graduation  except 
that  he  died  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  on  September  20, 
1 80 1,  aged  about  37  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  34,  129. 


ASA  HILLYER  was  born  in  Sheffield,  Massachusetts,  on 
April  6,  1763.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Granby,  Con- 
necticut, and  a  physician  in  Sheffield,  where  he  married  a 
daughter  of  Deacon  Ebenezer  Smith.  About  1773  he 
returned  to  Granby,  and  served  for  a  time  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary army  as  a  surgeon,  with  his  son  as  an  assistant. 

During  this  son's  College  course  Dr.  Hillyer  removed 
to  Bridgehampton,  Long  Island;  and  by  exposure  to  a 
storm  on  a  voyage  thither  the  son  is  said  to  have  been  led 
to  decide  to  enter  the  ministry. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  483 

He  studied  theology  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Samuel  Buell  (Yale  1741),  of  East  Hampton,  and  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  John  H.  Livingston  (Yale  1762),  of  New  York 
City. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Suffolk 
in  the  Spring  of  1788;  and  on  September  29,  1789,  having 
preached  for  two  Sabbaths  to  the  Presbyterian  congrega- 
tion in  Bottle  Hill,  now  Madison,  New  Jersey,  he  was 
invited  with  great  unanimity  to  become  their  pastor.  He 
accepted  this  call,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  there 
early  in  1790,  the  sermon  being  preached  by  the  Rev. 
David  Austin  (Yale  1779),  of  Elizabeth. 

He  married  on  June  8,  1791,  Jane,  only  child  of  Captain 
Abraham  and  Margaret  (Riker)  Riker,  of  Newtown, 
Long  Island. 

His  labors  at  Madison  were  successful,  and  he  lived  in 
great  harmony  with  his  people,  until  his  dismission  to  take 
the  pastoral  charge  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Orange,  New  Jersey, — one  of  the  largest  and  most  influ- 
ential of  the  denomination  in  the  State, — to  which  he  was 
called  on  October  20,  1801,  and  over  which  he  was  installed 
on  December  16. 

In  this  congregation  he  labored  with  great  acceptance 
and  success  for  upwards  of  thirty  years,  being  especially 
effective  in  pastoral  work.  He  resigned  his  charge  in 
1833,  at  the  age  °f  seventy;  and  from  that  time  devoted 
himself  to  occasional  ministerial  duty  in  the  town. 

In  1811  he  was  chosen  a  Trustee  of  Princeton  College, 
and  held  this  office  until  his  death.  In  1812  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  first  Directors  of  the  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary,  and  was  regularly  re-elected  until 
after  the  division  of  the  General  Assembly. 

In  1818  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  Alleghany  College. 

In  the  disruption  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1837, 
Dr.  Hillyer  was  associated  with  the  New  School;  but 


484  Yale  College 

without  any  loss  of  affection  towards  his  Old  School 
brethren. 

His  health  failed  during  the  winter  of  1839-40,  but  he 
was  able  to  attend  church  services  until  a  fortnight  before 
his  death.  He  died  in  Orange  on  August  28,  1840,  in  his 
78th  year.  His  wife  died  in  Orange,  on  April  4,  1828,  at 
the  age  of  60.  Their  children  were  four  sons  and  three 
daughters. 

Dr.  Hillyer  had  a  commanding  figure,  with  regular 
features  and  benign  and  attractive  expression,  and  his 
manners  and  bearing  were  exceedingly  bland  and  genial. 

He  published : 

1.  A  Sermon  [from  Numbers  xiii,  30],  preached  May,  1820,  in 
the  Wall  Street  Church,  New- York,  before  the  Presbyteriaft  Educa- 
tion Society.     Newark,  1820.     8°,  pp.  21. 

[B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.     Y.  C. 

2.  A   Sermon    [from   Ps.  cxlvii,  20],   delivered   Dec.    12,    1822, 
recommended  by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  to  be  observed  as  a  Day 
of  Public  Thanksgiving  and  Prayer.     Newark,  1823.     8°,  pp.  22. 

[C.  H.  S. 

AUTHORITIES. 

First  Church,  Orange,  Memorial,  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  46.  Tuttle, 
1870, 100-05.  Riker,  Annals  of  New-  Hist,  of  Presbyterian  Church,  Madi- 
town,  313.  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  son,  39-41.  Wickes,  Hist,  of  the 
Amer.  Pulpit,  iii,  533-35.  Pres.  Oranges,  222-28. 


REUBEN  HITCHCOCK,  the  eldest  child  of  Valentine 
Hitchcock,  of  Cheshire,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Peter  and  Hannah  (Smith)  Hitchcock,  was  born  in 
Cheshire,  then  part  of  Wallingford,  on  January  4,  1764. 
His  mother  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  Captain  Henry  and 
Sarah  (Benham)  Hotchkiss,  of  Cheshire.  A  brother  was 
graduated  here  in  1801.  He  united  with  the  College 
Church,  on  profession  of  faith,  in  January  of  his  Junior 
year.  At  graduation  he  won  the  Berkeley  Scholarship. 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  after  graduation,  teaching 
school  and  studying  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  485 

by  the  New  Haven  West  Association  on  September  25, 
1787. 

He  was  ordained  before  the  issue  of  the  Triennial  Cata- 
ogue  of  Graduates  in  1790,  and  preached  for  a  time  to 
the  Society  in  the  present  township  of  Prospect,  Connecti- 
cut, which  was  incorporated  in  October,  1787. 

Later  he  went — presumably  on  account  of  his  health — to 
the  New  England  settlement  in  Sunbury,  Georgia,  where 
he  took  charge  of  the  Congregational  Church.  He  spent 
the  summer  of  1792  with  his  friends  at  the  North,  return- 
ing to  Georgia  in  November. 

He  died  at  his  home  in  Cheshire  on  July  4,  1794,  aged 
30^/2  years.  Dr.  Stiles  describes  him,  in  ( noticing  his 
death,  as  "a  pious,  learned,  and  excellent  young  Minister." 
His  little  property — about  £180 — was  left  to  his  parents. 

He  published : 

A  Funeral  Oration  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Elizur  Belden,  of 
Wethersfield,  a  Senior  Sophister,  in  Yale- Co  liege :  Who  died  April 
8th,  1786,  ^tat.  23.  Delivered  in  the  College-Chapel,  June  8th. 
1786.  New-Haven,  1786.  8°,  pp.  22.  [Y.C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hitchcock    Genealogy,    135.     Pres.       213,  217,  222,  249,  471,  479,  527. 
Stiles,   Literary    Diary,    iii,    98,    146, 


REUBEN  IVES,  son  of  Zachariah  and  Lois  Ives,  of 
Cheshire,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Jotham  and 
Abigail  (Burroughs)  Ives,  was  born  on  October  26,  1762. 
He  was  absent  from  College  during  the  most  of  the  Fresh- 
man year. 

Being  desirous  of  entering  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  he  was  ordained  Deacon  by  Bishop  Seabury  in 
Derby,  Connecticut,  on  September  21,  1786,  eight  days 
after  receiving  his  Bachelor's  degree.  Such  hasty  action 
was  thought  to  be  justified  by  the  dearth  of  ministers,  and 
was  conditioned  on  the  promise  of  professional  study  while 
in  the  diaconate. 


4&6  Yale  College 

In  pursuance  of  this  understanding  he  lived  with  Bishop 
Seabury  for  over  a  year,  studying  under  his  direction  and 
assisting  him  in  his  duties  as  Rector  of  St.  James's  Church, 
New  London.  He  also  took  a  course  in  Hebrew  with 
President  Stiles. 

On  February  24,  1788,  he  was  ordained  Priest  by  Bishop 
Seabury,  in  New  London,  and  at  once  became  Rector  of 
St.  Peter's  Church,  Cheshire,  with  the  proviso  that  one- 
third  of  his  time  was  to  be  given  to  missionary  work  in 
the  vicinity, — particularly  in  Wallingford  and  North 
Haven.  In  this  field  of  labor  he  continued  with  marked 
fidelity  until  1820. 

In  his  later  years  he  supplied  the  churches  in  Walling- 
ford and  Meriden. 

He  died  at  his  home  in  Cheshire  on  October  14,  1836, 
aged  74  years. 

He  was  married  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hubbard,  of  New 
Haven,  to  Susannah  Anna  Maria,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
John  Rutgers  Marshall  (Columbia  1770),  of  Woodbury, 
Connecticut,  on  January  25,  1789,  four  days  after  her 
father's  death.  She  died  in  Cheshire,  on  August  26,  1849, 
aged  8 1  */2  years.  They  had  four  daughters,  and  one  son. 
The  latter  received  an  honorary  Master's  degree  from 
Yale  and  was  for  a  time  a  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  but  ultimately  became  a  Roman  Catholic. 

Mr.  Ives  was  beyond  any  other  man  responsible  for  the 
establishment  of  the  Episcopal  Academy  in  Cheshire,  in 
1796.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  church  music,  and  was  one 
of  the  first  to  introduce  chanting  in  Connecticut. 

An  engraving  from  his  miniature  is  given  in  the  History 
of  Wallingford. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,  137-38.      Cothren,   Hist,    of    Wood- 
25.     Beardsley,  Addresses  and  Dis-  bury,   i,  632.    Davis,  Hist,   of  Wai- 
courses,   7-8,   200,   234-35;    Life   of  lingford,   255-57,   829.     Pres.   Stiles, 
Seabury,  264,  283-84,  316.     Convoca-  Literary  Diary,  iii,  74,  97,  305. 
tion  Records  of   Diocese  of   Conn., 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  487 


JOHN  KINGSBURY,  third  son  and  fourth  child  of  Deacon 
Nathaniel  and  Sarah  Kingsbury,  of  Norwich  West  Farms, 
now  Franklin,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Deacon  and 
Captain  Joseph  and  Ruth  (Denison)  Kingsbury,  of  Frank- 
lin, was  born  on  December  30,  1761.  His  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  Jacob  and  Susanna  (Hancock)  Hill,  of 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  He  was  prepared  for  College 
by  his  cousin,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Backus,  of  Somers, 
Connecticut,  and  entered  with  the  Class  of  1783,  but  in 
consequence  of  the  interruptions  caused  by  the  war  left  at 
the  close  of  the  Freshman  year,  and  before  his  return  to 
College  went  on  two  privateering  voyages  from  New 
London  with  his  eldest  brother.  After  a  long  illness  he 
returned  to  College  in  November,  1782. 

Immediately  upon  graduation  he  took  charge  of  a  new 
academy  for  both  sexes  in  Waterbury,  Connecticut ;  where 
he  taught  for  about  a  year. 

In  the  spring  of  1788  he  entered  Judge  Tapping  Reeve's 
Law  School  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  in  1790  was 
admitted  to  the  Litchfield  County  bar.  His  health  was 
poor;  but  at  length,  in  the  fall  of  1791,  he  settled  in 
Waterbury  for  the  practice  of  the  law. 

In  1793  he  was  chosen  Town  Clerk,  and  held  the  office 
for  much  of  the  time  until  1818.  Seventeen  times  between 
1796  and  1813  he  represented  the  town  in  the  General 
Assembly.  He  was  appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
1796,  and  was  continued  in  office  until  1830.  On  the 
death  of  Judge  Joseph  Hopkins  in  March,  1801,  he  was 
appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  County  and  Probate 
Courts ;  and  he  was  continued,  as  Assistant  Judge  of  the 
New  Haven  Court  until  May,  1820  (being  Presiding 
Judge  during  the  last  year),  and  as  Judge  of  Probate  for 
the  District  of  Waterbury  until  1834.  He  was  also  a 
large  land-owner,  and  carried  on  extensive  farming  opera- 
tions. 


488  Yale  College 

He  married,  on  November  6,  1794,  Marcia  (or  Mercy), 
eldest  daughter  of  Deacon  Stephen  and  Sarah  (Humas- 
ton)  Bronson,  of  Waterbury,  who  died  on  March  21,  1813, 
in  her  49th  year.  Their  children  were  three  sons  and  one 
daughter,  all  of  whom  left  descendants.  The  Hon. 
Frederick  J.  Kingsbury  (Yale  1846)  is  a  grandson. 

Judge  Kingsbury  was  always  delicate  in  health,  and  for 
the  last  twenty  years,  or  more,  of  his  life  had  strong  con- 
sumptive tendencies.  He  died  in  Waterbury,  at  the  house 
of  his  son-in-law,  with  whom  he  had  lived  for  several 
years,  on  August  26,  1844,  in  his  83d  year. 

Dr.  Henry  Bronson,  the  historian  of  Waterbury,  wrote 
of  him  in  1858: 

Judge  Kingsbury  acquired  in  an  eminent  degree  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  He  held  many 
public  offices,  and  always  discharged  his  duties  ably,  faithfully  and 
acceptably.  From  the  death  of  Judge  Hopkins  [1801]  to  the  time 
of  his  decease,  no  man  in  the  town  was  more  honored,  respected 
and  beloved. 

Judge  Kingsbury  was  a  popular  man,  but  he  became  so  in  conse- 
quence of  the  benevolence  of  his  character,  his  kindly  sympathies, 
his  agreeable  manners  and  many  excellent  qualities.  He  never 
sacrificed  principle  or  consistency.  He  was  a  good  neighbor  and 
trusty  friend.  Lively  in  his  manner,  easy  in  conversation,  often 
facetious  in  his  remarks,  his  company  was  sought  by  persons  of  all 
ages  and  classes. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,     Hist,     of     Waterbury,       223,     255.      Pres.     Stiles,     Literary 
iii,  795-97.    Bronson,  Hist,  of  Water-       Diary,  ii,  429 ;    iii,  248. 
bury,  422-23.     Kingsbury  Genealogy, 


WILLIAM  LEFFINGWELL,  the  eldest  son  of  Colonel 
Christopher  Leffingwell,  one  of  the  most  prominent  citizens 
of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Benajah  and 
Joanna  (Christophers)  Leffingwell,  of  Norwich,  was  born 
on  September  28,  1765.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth, 
second  daughter  of  Captain  Joseph  and  Lydia  (Lathrop) 
Coit,  of  New  London. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  489 

On  September  12,  1786,  the  evening  before  his  gradua- 
tion, he  was  married  by  the  Rev.  Achilles  Mansfield, 
uncle  of  the  bride,  to  Sally  Maria,  elder  daughter  of  Isaac 
and  Mary  (Mansfield)  Beers,  of  New  Haven,  and  then 
returned  to  Norwich,  where  he  engaged  in  mercantile 
business  with  his  father.  He  was  also  Postmaster  from 
1789  to  1793. 

In  the  spring  of  1793  he  removed  to  New  York  City, 
where  he  went  into  business  as  a  shipping  merchant  in 
partnership  with  Hezekiah  B.  Pierpont.  During  the  war 
between  France  and  England  he  lost  largely,  and  changed 
his  business  to  that  of  a  stock  and  insurance  broker. 

He  thus  amassed  a  considerable  fortune,  and  when  he 
retired  to  New  Haven  in  1809,  he  was  accounted  the  richest 
citizen  of  the  place.  His  elegant  residence,  which  is  still 
standing  (much  altered)  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Chapel 
and  Temple  Streets,  with  a  terraced  garden  extending 
up  towards  College  Street,  was  a  center  of  hospitality  for 
many  years.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  College,  and 
contributed  liberally  at  various  times  to  its  funds. 

Mrs.  Lefiingwell  died  on  August  25,  1830,  at  the  age 
of  65,  and  her  husband  next  married  Hannah,  eldest 
daughter  of  Leonard  Chester  (Yale  1769),  of  Wethers- 
field,  Connecticut. 

Mr.  Leffingwell  died  in  New  Haven  on  October  23,  1834, 
at  the  beginning  of  his  7<Dth  year.  His  widow  died  in 
New  York  City  on  January  4,  1860,  in  her  8ist  year. 

Of  his  five  sons  by  his  first  marriage  two  died  in  infancy, 
and  the  others  were  graduates  of  Yale,  in  1807,  I8i4,  and 
1822,  respectively;  the  elder  of  his  two  daughters  married 
Augustus  R.  Street  (Yale  1812),  whom  she  joined  in 
munificent  benefactions  to  the  College. 

Many  of  his  manuscript  letters  to  the  Hon.  David 
Daggett  (Yale  1783)  are  in  the  possession  of  the  Uni- 
versity Library. 

Portraits  of  Mr.  Leffingwell  and  his  first  wife  are  in 


49°  Yale  College 

the  Yale  Art  School,  and  are  reproduced  in  Miss  Perkins's 
Old  Houses  of  Norwich. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Leffingwell      Record,      59,      80-81.       Houses    of    Norwich,    i,    75,    81-82, 
Mansfield  Genealogy,  51.     New  Eng-       518-19.     Tuttle  Family,  204. 
lander,     xli,     24-26.      Perkins,     Old 


HENRY  WALTER  LIVINGSTON,  a  son  of  the  Hon.  Walter 
Livingston,  of  Livingston  Manor,  in  Livingston  township, 
Columbia  County,  New  York,  and  grandson  of  the  third 
proprietor  of  the  Manor,  Robert  Livingston,  was  born  in 
1768.  His  mother  was  Cornelia,  only  daughter  of  Peter 
and  Gertrude  (Schuyler)  Schuyler,  of  Albany,  and  niece 
of  General  Philip  Schuyler.  A  younger  brother  was 
graduated  here  in  1789. 

He  was  fitted  for  College  by  the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins 
(Yale  1760),  of  Norfolk,  Connecticut. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  began  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  New  York  City,  while  still  retaining 
his  country  residence. 

In  1792,  when  Gouverneur  Morris  was  sent  to  France  as 
Minister  Plenipotentiary,  Mr.  Livingston  accompanied 
him  as  Private  Secretary,  and  returned  with  him  in  1794. 
He  bore  a  letter  to  President  Washington,  in  which  Morris 
said:  "You  will  find  Mr.  Livingston  is  to  be  trusted,  for 
although  at  a  tender  age  his  discretion  may  always  be 
depended  upon ;  he  is  modest,  polite,  sensible,  and  brave." 

In  1796  he  married  Mary  Penn,  daughter  of  James  and 
Margaret  (Allen)  DeLancey,  of  New  York,  and  settled  on 
his  paternal  residence  in  Columbia  County. 

He  was  twice  elected  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  serving  from  October,  1803,  to  March,  1807. 

He  died  at  Livingston  Manor  on  December  22,  1810, 
aged  42  years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  49 I 

His  wife  long  survived  him,  and  was  famed  for  her 
graceful  and  profuse  hospitality. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  three  sons. 


AUTHORITIES. 

American  Ancestry,  i,  50.     Apple-       Genealogy,     165.      Lamb,     Hist,     of 
ton's    Cyclopaedia    of    Amer.    Biog-      N.  Y.  City,  ii,  296,  391,  396. 
raphy,     iii,     744.        Holgate,    Amer. 


ISAAC  MALTBY,  son  of  Deacon  Benjamin  and  Eliza- 
beth (Fowler)  Maltby,  of  Northford  Society,  in  North 
Branford,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  November  10,  1767. 

After  graduation  he  studied  divinity  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Smalley  (Yale  1756),  of  New  Britain,  Connecticut, 
and  joined  the  church  of  which  he  was  pastor  on  July  12, 
1789.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Eastern  Associa- 
tion of  New  Haven  County  in  September,  1789  (with  his 
classmate  Cooke). 

He  did  not,  however,  adopt  the  ministerial  calling,  but 
having  married  in  November,  1790,  Lucinda,  the  only  child 
of  General  Seth  and  Elizabeth  (White)  Murray,  of  Hat- 
field,  Massachusetts,  he  settled  on  a  farm  in  that  town,  and 
became  a  leading  citizen. 

He  took  a  special  interest  in  military  matters, '  and 
attained  the  rank  of  Major  in  the  State  Militia  in  1803. 

In  1808-09  ne  was  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature, 
and  in  1812  a  Presidential  Elector. 

From  1813  until  the  close  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain 
he  served  as  Brigadier-General  of  the  State  Militia,  with 
headquarters  at  Boston. 

In  1816  he  was  again  elected  to  the  Legislature. 

In  1817  he  removed  to  Waterloo,  in  Seneca  County, 
New  York,  where  two  of  his  sons  were  living. 

He  died  in  Waterloo,  after  one  week's  illness,  on 
September  9,  1819,  in  his  52d  year. 

His  wife  died  in  Buffalo,  New  York,  on  June  9,  1844, 
aged  735^  years. 


49 2  Yale  College 

Of  their  nine  children,  eight  lived  to  advanced  life. 
The  eldest  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Ephraim  Chapin 
(Williams  College  1814). 

He  published : 

1.  The  Elements  of  War.     Boston,  1811.     12°,  pp.  xxvi,  208  + 
18  pi.  [Brit.  Mus.     N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S. 

The  same.  Second  edition.  Boston,  1813.  12°,  pp.  xxvi, 
208+18  pi. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.     Bowdoin  Coll.     Harv.     N.   Y.  Soc.  Libr. 
Y.  C. 

The  same.  Third  Edition.  Hartford,  1815.  12°,  pp.  xxvii, 
208+18  pi.  [B.  Fubl.  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  U.  S. 

2.  Letter  respecting  some  Military  Orders  of   Gov.   E.   Gerry, 
addressed  to  Epaphras  Hoyt,  of  Deerfield,  29  Feb.,  1812.     Folio, 
i  leaf. 

3.  A  Treatise  on  Courts  Martial  and  Military  Law.  .  . .     Boston, 
1813.     8°,  pp.  viii,  272. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.     Brit.  Mus.     Harv. 
N.  Y.  State  Libr.    N.  Y.  Soc.  Libr.    U.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,  New   Britain   Memorial,  N.    E.    Hist,    and    Geneal.    Register, 

207.     Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  of  Amer.  xxxii,    235.      Religious    Intelligencer, 

Biography,    iv,    184.    Judd,   Hist,    of  iv,  351. 
Hadley,     2d     ed.,     Appendix,     101. 


SAMUEL  MARSH,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Ebenezer 
Marsh  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Colonel 
Ebenezer  and  Deborah  (Buell)  Marsh,  of  Litchfield,  was 
born  on  June  17,  1765.  His  mother  was  Lucy,  or  Lucia, 
youngest  child  of  Captain  Edward  and  Deborah  (Gris- 
wold,  Bissell)  Phelps,  of  Harwinton  and  Litchfield. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  probably  with  Judge 
Reeve,  of  Litchfield,  and  began  practice  in  his  native  town, 
but  soon  removed  to  Norfolk,  Virginia.  He  retained  an 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  493 

interest  in  his  old  home,  and  in  1809  gave  a  lot  for  a  new 
Episcopal  church  building  in  Litchfield. 

He  died,  probably  in  Norfolk,  in  1814  at  the  age  of  49. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hartford    Marsh     Genealogy,    36.       Litchfield  Genealogical  Register,  141. 
Phelps    Family,    i,    228.      Woodruff, 


TRUMAN  MARSH,  a  brother  of  the  last-named  graduate, 
was  born  in  Litchfield  on  February  22,  1768.  He  was  pre- 
pared for  College  by  Dr.  George  Beckwith  (Yale  1766), 
of  Litchfield  South  Farms,  now  Morris. 

On  leaving  College  he  went  to  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
where  he  was  engaged  for  a  year  in  teaching  in  a  private 
family,  and  afterwards  as  a  Tutor  in  Cokesbury  College, 
a  Methodist  institution  just  established  near  Baltimore. 
Meantime  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Levi  Heath, 
and  on  March  5,  1789,  Bishop  White  of  Pennsylvania 
admitted  him  to  Deacon's  orders. 

At  a  later  date  he  was  offered  the  principalship  of 
Cokesbury  College,  but  declined  with  the  purpose  of 
following  the  ministry  in  his  native  State. 

Early  in  1790  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  rectorship  of  St. 
John's  Parish,  in  New  Milford,  Connecticut,  and  before 
beginning  his  duties  he  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by 
Bishop  Seabury,  on  June  2,  1790,  at  Litchfield.  By  agree- 
ment one-fourth  of  his  time  was  to  be  given  to  the  parish 
of  New  Preston,  and  one- fourth  to  Roxbury. 

After  nine  years  of  zealous  and  successful  service  he 
was  invited  to  the  charge  of  St.  Michael's  Parish  in  his 
native  town.  His  resignation  in  New  Milford  was 
accepted  on  November  I,  1799,  and  four  days  later  he 
assumed  his  new  duties. 

Here  also  he  labored  with  conspicuous  zeal,  and  was 
universally  beloved  and  respected.  In  1808,  in  conse- 


494  Yale  College 

quence  of  ill-health  he  proposed  to  relinquish  his  salary, 
and  requested  the  appointment  of  an  Assistant.  A  per- 
manent Assistant  was  secured  in  January,  1811,  and  from 
that  date  Mr.  Marsh  undertook  no  parochial  duty,  except 
when  specially  requested. 

In  1829  he  fell  into  a  state  of  nervous  hypochondria,  in 
consequence  of  which  he  felt  obliged  to  resign  his  rector- 
ship. His  resignation  was  regretfully  accepted  on  Janu- 
ary ii,  1830,  and  thenceforth  he  confined  himself  to  occa- 
sional clerical  duty. 

His  residence  continued  in  Litchfield  until  his  death 
there  on  March  28,  1851,  shortly  after  he  had  entered  on 
his  84th  year. 

He  married,  on  October  22,  1791,  his  first  cousin, 
Clarissa,  eldest  child  of  Major  Moses  and  Molly  (Marsh) 
Seymour,  of  Litchfield,  who  died  on  September  2,  1865, 
aged  93  years.  Their  children  were  two  sons  and  five 
daughters.  One  son  and  one  daughter  died  in  infancy. 
One  daughter  married  the  Rev.  George  Carrington  (Yale 
1822),  and  one  married  Dr.  Josiah  Barnes  (Yale  1825). 

Mr.  Marsh  was  often  entrusted  with  important  diocesan 
appointments,  such  as  membership  on  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee and  the  office  of  deputy  in  the  General  Convention. 

In  his  Convention  Address  in  1851,  Bishop  Brownell 
said  of  him: — "Few  of  his  brethren  have  surpassed  him 
for  clearness  of  mind,  simplicity  of  character,  purity  of 
life,  and  faithfulness  to  the  trust  committed  to  him." 

The  family  own  several  portraits  of  Mr.  Marsh. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Beardsley,  Life  of  Seabury,  316.  Centennial  Discourse  in  Litchfield, 
Churchman's  Magazine,  i,  351.  Conn.  37~39,  43-45-  Orcutt,  Hist,  of  New 
Church  Documents,  ii,  337-38.  Con-  Milford,  160-70,  268,  346.  Wood- 
vocation  Records  of  Diocese  of  ruff,  Litchfield  Genealogical  Register, 
Conn.,  144-46.  Hartford  Marsh  141,  143,  193. 
Genealogy,  33,  36,  39~4O.  /.  Jones, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  495 

CALVIN  MAY,  son  of  Deacon  and  Colonel  Ezra  May,  of 
that  part  of  Chesterfield  which  afterwards  became  Goshen, 
Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Lieutenant  Nehemiah 
and  Mehetabel  (Holbrook)  May,  of  Woodstock,  Connecti- 
cut, was  born  in  Chesterfield  on  April  15,  1765.  His 
mother  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Caleb  and  Margaret 
Lyon,  of  Woodstock.  His  father  died  in  his  early  boy- 
hood. 

He  entered  the  medical  profession,  and  spent  most  of 
his  life  in  Canada,  just  over  the  border  from  Vermont, 
in  St.  Armand,  or  one  of  the  neighboring  towns,  to  the 
east  of  Missisquoi  Bay,  an  arm  of  Lake  Champlain.  He 
died  on  January  23,  1842,  in  his  77th  year. 

He  married  in  1800,  in  Highgate,  Vermont,  Mary 
Hyatt,  and  had  a  family  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Barrus,  Hist,  of  Goshen,  154-55.     May  Family,  71. 


DAVID  MILLER  came  to  College  from  New  Hartford, 
Connecticut. 

He  returned  to  New  Hartford,  and  died  there  in  the 
fall  of  1803. 

His  wife  Clarissa  survived  him,  as  also  five  sons  and 
one  daughter. 


WILLIAM  FOWLER  MILLER  was  born  in  Northington 
Society  in  Farmington,  now  Avon,  Connecticut,  on  May 
23  (or  24),  1768,  the  son  of  Lieutenant  Elisha  Miller,  a 
farmer  of  Avon,  and  grandson  of  Jonathan  Miller,  of 
Northampton,  Massachusetts,  and  Avon.  His  mother 
was  Sarah,  daughter  of  Josiah  and  ,Hannah  (Baldwin) 
Fowler,  of  Durham,  Connecticut. 


496  Yale  College 

A  brother  of  his  father,  for  whom  he  had  been  named, 
died  in  1775,  and  left  by  will  money  to  defray  his  expenses 
in  College. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation,  and  supplied 
various  pulpits,  as  for  instance  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Salisbury,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  where  he 
received  in  November,  1790,  a  call  to  the  pastorate,  which 
he  declined.  He  also  preached  in  Goshen,  in  the  same 
county,  and  would  have  been  given  a  call,  if  he  had  been 
likely  to  accept. 

In  May,  1791,  he  began  to  supply  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Wintonbury  Society  in  Windsor,  now  Bloom- 
field,  Connecticut,  and  after  four  months'  trial  that 
church,  in  September,  called  him  to  the  pastorate.  Hav- 
ing accepted  this  call,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  on  the 
3Oth  of  November,  the  sermon  being  preached  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Perkins,  of  West  Hartford,  and  after- 
wards published. 

Mr.  Miller  was  a  man  of  strong  powers  of  mind  and 
ardent  piety,  and  also  of  noble  countenance  and  bear- 
ing. His  pastoral  labors  were  crowned  with  marked 
success,  and  three  special  seasons  of  revival  (in  1799-1800, 
1808,  and  1809)  gave  him  encouragement.  He  was  a 
decided  opponent  of  the  halfway  covenant,  and  secured 
its  disuse  in  his  church  in  the  early  part  of  his  ministry, 
though  a  legacy  of  unpleasant  feeling  remained. 

In  the  course  of  his  studies  he  became  greatly  interested 
in  the  subject  of  prophecy,  and  some  eccentricities  in  his 
later  years  were  perhaps  traceable  to  over-excitement  on 
this  topic. 

In  1811  a  strong  movement  in  the  Society  for  his 
removal  led  him  to  request,  on  July  26,  the  calling  of  a 
council  for  his  dismission;  and  the  desired  action  was 
taken  on  September  5,  by  a  vote  of  twenty-one  to  fifteen. 

He  continued  to  reside  in  Wintonbury  after  his  dismis- 
sion, and  died  there  on  February  5,  1818,  in  his  5Oth  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  497 

He  spent  nearly  eight  months  in  1813  in  the  service  of  the 
Connecticut  Missionary  Society  in  Western  New  York. 

He  married  in  Windsor,,.on  June  6,  1792,  Anna,  second 
daughter  of  Ephraim  and  Hannah  (Beach,  Hill)  Starr, 
of  Goshen,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  and  sister  of 
Truman  and  Ephraim  Starr  (Yale  1801  and  1804). 

She  removed  in  1839  to  the  house  of  her  eldest  daughter 
in  Hartford,  where  she  died  on  December  24,  1865,  aged 
nearly  93  years.  Their  children  were  four  sons  and  four 
daughters.  Dr.  William  M.  Hudson  (Yale  1853)  was  a 
grandson. 

He  published : 

1.  Signs  of  the  times,  or  the  sure  word  of  Prophecy. — A  Disser- 
tation on  the  Prophecies  of  the  Sixth  and  Seventh  Vials,  and  on 
the   subsequent  great  Day  of   Battle,   immediately  preceding  the 
Millennium.     Hartford,  1803.     8°,  pp.  47.  [F.  C. 

Divided  into  five  numbers. 

2.  Christ  the   Rod  of   Iron   upon   all   Antichristian   Kings   and 
Nations. — A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  ii,  10-12],  delivered  on  the  Annual 
Thanksgiving  in  Connecticut,  November  24th,  1803. — To  which  is 
annexed,  an  Appendix,  on  the  Prophecies  of  the  Sixth  and  Seventh 
Vials,  and  on  the  subsequent  great  Day  of   Battle,   immediately 
preceding  the  Millennium.     Hartford,  -1804.     8°,  pp'.  126. 

[C.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 
Containing  Numbers  6  to  8,  and  two  unnumbered  divisions. 

3.  Dissertations  on  the  Subjects  and  Mode  of  Gospel  Baptism. 
Hartford,  1806.     8°,  pp.  120.  [C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

Three  hymns  (which  are  apparently  original),  proper  to  be  sung 
after  the  administration  of  baptism,  are  appended  to  the  Disserta- 
tions. 

4.  A  Dissertation  on  the  harvest  of  Mystical  Babylon. — Book  III. 
Hartford,  1808.     8°,  pp.  96.  [C.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

His  two  previous  works  on  prophecy  are  counted  as  Books  I  and 
II,  and  this  Book  contains  Number  9  of  the  serial  numbers. 

He  also  published,  in  volume  I  of  the  Connecticut  Evangelical 
Magazine,  January-February,  1801   (pp.  268-72/305-10),  a  Letter, 
giving  an  account  of  a  recent  Revival  of  Religion  in  Wintonbury. 
32 


498  Yale  College 

In  the  same  periodical  for  March,  1803  (vol.  3,  pp.  321-22),  is 
printed  an  extract  from  his  journal  while  on  a  missionary  tour  in 
1802  in  Northern  Vermont. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Rev.  Wm.  Martin  Brown,  MS.  Diary,  iii,  46.  H.  R.  Stiles,  Hist,  of 
Letter,  Febr.  17,  1906.  Hibbard,  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  494.  Trumbull, 
Hist,  of  Goshen,  89.  Starr  Family,  Hist,  of  Hartford  County,  ii,  32-33- 
139-40.  Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary 


ISAAC  MILLS,  son  of  Elisha  Mills,  of  Huntington,  then 
part  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Huntington  on 
March  7,  1767.  His  mother  was  Mary,  second  daughter 
of  Samuel  and  Abigail  (Peet)  DeForest,  of  Huntington. 

He  studied  law,  and  began  practice  in  Huntington. 
While  still  there  he  married,  on  January  23,  1790,  Abigail 
Phelps,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  a  sister  of  Timothy 
Phelps  (Yale  1780). 

In  1794  he  removed  to  New  Haven,  where  he  took  a 
leading  place  among  the  most  enterprising  and  public- 
spirited  citizens. 

He  was  a  Judge  of  the  County  Court  from  1817  to  1824, 
and  Judge  of  the  Probate  District  of  New  Haven  from 
1820  to  1824. 

It  was  owing  principally  to  his  exertions  that  the  present 
meeting-house  of  the  Center  Church  (which  he  joined,  on 
profession  of  faith,  in  1806)  was  erected;  and  he  was 
among  the  earliest  to  advocate  the  paving  of  the  sidewalks 
and  other  street  improvements. 

He  invested  largely  in  Ohio  lands,  and  became  practi- 
cally the  founder  in  1818  of  Sandusky  City  in  that  State. 
During  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  he  spent  most  of 
his  time  there,  only  occasionally  returning  to  New  Haven, 
He  thus  returned  a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  which 
occurred  here  on  January  29,  1843,  in  his  76th  year. 

His  wife  died  in  New  Haven  on  August  24,  1852,  aged 
years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  499 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  six  daughters.  The 
youngest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1825.  The  eldest 
daughter  married  her  first  cousin,  Dr.  Timothy  Phelps 
Beers  (Yale  1808).  The  third  daughter  was  the  mother 
of  the  Rev.  John  Anketell  (Yale  1855)  and  Edward  A. 
Anketell  (Yale  1864).  The  fourth  daughter  married  the 
Rev.  Augustus  R.  Wynkoop  (Union  1829),  and  was  the 
mother  of  the  Rev.  Theodore  S.  Wynkoop  (Yale  1861). 

AUTHORITIES. 
DeForests  of  Avesnes,  227.     Phelps  Family,  i,  186,  307-08. 


ABNER  MOSELEY,,  elder  son  of  Captain  Joseph  Moseley, 
of  Windsor,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Windsor  in  1765 
or  1766.  His  mother  was  Hopeful  Robbins,  of  Wethers- 
field,  Connecticut,  a  sister  of  Appleton  and  Robert  Robbins 
(Yale  1760),  and  a  woman  of  remarkable  strength  of 
mind  and  energy  of  character. 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation  with  his  uncle, 
Dr.  Thomas  Moseley  (Yale  1751),  of  East  Haddam,  Con- 
necticut, and  supplemented  this  instruction  with  lectures  in 
Philadelphia. 

He  settled  in  practice  in  his  native  town,  and  in  April, 
1792,  married  Eunice  Welles,  of  Glastonbury,  Connecticut. 

In  1795  he  removed  to  Wethersfield,  where  he  soon 
found  himself  established  in  an  extensive  and  profitable 
course  of  practice,  which  he  maintained  with  increasing 
reputation  until  his  death  there,  in  the  midst  of  his  useful- 
ness, on  September  20,  1811,  in  the  46th  year  of  his  age. 
His  tombstone  justly  styles  him,  "a  Physician  of  skill  & 
eminence." 

His  wife  died  on  January  26,  1811,  aged  43  years. 

Their  children  were  five  daughters  and  four  sons,  of 
whom  all  but  one  daughter  survived  them. 

The  historian,  Dr.  Thacher,  writes  of  him: 

Dr.  Moseley's  education  gave  him  advantages  over  most  of  his 
contemporaries  as  a  physician,  and  particularly  as  an  accoucheur,.; 


in  which  department  of  his  profession  his  reputation  was  deservedly 
great  and  extensive.  As  a  man  and  a  member  of  society  he  was 
useful,  active  and  public  spirited,  and  greatly  respected.  . .  In 
person  he  was  tall,  straight,  of  a  commanding  figure  and  noble 
countenance ;  he  possessed  great  bodily  strength  and  activity. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.     Courant,     Sept.     25,     1811.       raphy,    408-09.      Tillotson,    Wethers- 
Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethersfield,  ii,  514.       field  Inscriptions,  94. 
Thacher,    American    Medical    Biog- 


ELIZUR  MOSELEY  came  to  College  from  Westfield, 
Massachusetts. 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation,  and  settled  as 
early  as  1790  in  Whitesboro,  in  what  is  now  Oneida 
County,  New  York. 

He  filled  from  the  first  a  large  place  in  the  life  of  the 
town,  aside  from  his  professional  services.  When  the 
post-office  was  established  in  Whitesboro,  soon  after  his 
arrival,  he  was  appointed  postmaster  and  he  retained  the 
office  until  1825,  being  said  to  be  at  that  date  the  post- 
master longest  in  service  in  the  United  States.  He  was 
made  an  Assistant  Justice  of  the  County  Court,  when 
Oneida  County  was  formed  in  1798;  and  was  County 
Sheriff  from  the  close  of  1798  to  November,  1800.  He 
was  also  the  first  merchant  in  the  town,  and  after  opening 
a  store  gradually  retired  from  the  practice  of  medicine. 

His  wife  died  about  1820,  and  some  ten  or  twelve  years 
later  he  disposed  of  his  business  and  removed  to  the  house 
of  one  of  his  daughters,  in  Penn  Yan,  in  Yates  County, 
where  he  died,  in  August,  1833,  in  his  67th  year. 

He  had  one  son,  who  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1816, 
and  four  daughters. 

Dr.  Moseley  was  very  courteous  and  affable,  and  was 
much  liked  and  respected. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Jones,  Annals  of  Oneida  County,       actions,    ii,    80-82.      Wager,    Oneida 
795.     Oneida  Hist.  Society's  Trans-      County,  91,  143. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  501 

GAD  NEWELL,  the  youngest  in  a  family  of  nine  children 
of  Lieutenant  Isaac  Newell,  of  Southington,  Connecticut, 
and  brother  of  Captain  Simeon  Newell  (Yale  1775),  was 
born  on  September  10,  1763.  In  early  life  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  saddler,  but  an  injury  to  his  right  hand 
so  far  disabled  him  that  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  that 
trade,  and  he  turned  his  attention  to  preparation  for  Col- 
lege under  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  William  Robinson  (Yale 
1773).  He  entered  College  at  the  beginning  of  the 
third  term  of  Freshman  year,  and  joined  the  College 
church  on  profession  of  faith  at  the  close  of  Junior  year. 

During  the  year  next  after  graduation  he  taught  school 
in  Milford,  Connecticut,  and  then  returned  home  to  begin 
the  study  of  divinity  with  Mr.  Robinson.  He  completed 
his  course  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Smalley  (Y.  C.  1756), 
of  New  Britain,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hart- 
ford South  Association  of  Ministers  on  June  2,  1789. 

His  health,  however,  was  such  at  this  time  that  it  seemed 
doubtful  whether  he  would  ever  be  able  to  take  a  pastoral 
charge,  and  he  probably  looked  forward  to  spending  his 
days  on  his  father's  farm. 

In  the  summer  of  1793  he  took  a  journey  into  Cheshire 
County,  in  southwestern  New  Hampshire — it  is  supposed 
on  a  visit  to  his  townsman,  the  Rev.  Levi  Lankton  (Yale 
I777)>  °f  East  Alstead;  and  while  there  was  invited  to 
supply  the  vacant  Congregational  Church  in  Nelson,  in 
the  same  county. 

He  proved  equal  to  the  work,  and  in  the  following  spring 
received  a  call  to  the  pastorate.  He  accepted,  and  was 
ordained  there  on  June  n,  1794,  and  thus  entered  on  a 
ministry  of  over  forty-seven  years,  which  he  prosecuted 
with  unusual  energy  and  zeal.  In  July,  1836,  a  colleague- 
pastor  was  settled,  who  retired  in  May,  1840,  and  on 
November  4,  1841,  the  senior  pastor  was  dismissed,  on  the 
settlement  of  a  new  minister. 

He  continued  to  live  in  Nelson,  and  to  assist  in  the  public 


502  Yale  College 

services  of  the  church,  until  the  last  year  of  his  life,  by 
which  time  his  physical  and  mental  powers  were  very  little 
impaired. 

He  lived  to  be  the  last  survivor  of  his  Class,  dying  in 
Nelson  on  February  25,  1859,  aged  nearly  95^  years. 

He  married,  on  June  n,  1795,  Sophia,  second  daughter 
of  Benjamin  and  Phebe  (Boynton)  Clapp,  of  Easthamp- 
ton,  Massachusetts.  She  died  on  September  u,  1840,  in 
her  69th  year. 

Of  their  children,  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  the  first 
two  died  in  infancy.  The  remaining  son  was  graduated 
at  the  Yale  Medical  School  in  1822.  The  daughter 
married  the  Rev.  John  S.  Emerson  (Dartmouth  Coll. 
1826),  and  went  as  a  missionary  to  Hawaii. 

Mr.  Newell  was  a  plain  and  direct  preacher,  of  dignified 
bearing,  simple  in  expression,  free  from  mannerisms,  and 
from  display  in  voice  or  gesture.  He  adhered  to  the  end 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Confession,  and  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  people,  remain  united  and 
prosperous  under  his  ministry. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,  New  Britain,  79-80.  erary  Diary,  iii,  73,  183.  Timlow, 
Clapp  Memorial,  58.  Hall,  Newell  Hist,  of  Southington,  485-87,  clxxxvii- 
Family,  33,  75-79.  Pres.  Stiles,  Lit-  clxxxviii. 


ELIAS  PERKINS  was  born  in  Newent  Society,  now 
Lisbon,  Connecticut,  on  April  5,  1767.  A  twin-brother 
was  graduated  a  year  later,  and  an  older  brother  a  year 
earlier. 

He 'left  College  with  a  high  reputation  for  scholarship, 
and  after  studying  law  settled  in  practice  in  New  London, 
Connecticut,  where  he  married  on  March  14,  1790, 
Lucretia  Shaw,  the  only  surviving  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Ephraim  Woodbridge  (Yale  1765). 

He  was  one  of  the  Representatives  of  the  city  in  the 
General  Assembly  during  eight  sessions  between  1795  and 


Biographical  Sketches,  ij86  503 

1800,  and  again  in  1814  and  1815, — in  which  last  session, 
as  in  one  in  1798,  he  served  as  Speaker  of  the  House. 

At  a  comparatively  early  date  (1799)  he  was  appointed 
an  Assistant  Judge  of  the  County,  and  in  1807  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  Chief  Judge,  which  he  retained 
until  1825. 

In  politics  he  was  a  Federalist,  and  as  such  was 
elected  to  Congress  for  one  term,  1801  to  1803.  Later 
he  was  in  the  State  Senate  for  six  years,  from  1817  to 
1822,  being  also  for  this  period  ex-officio  a  Fellow  of  the 
Yale  Corporation. 

From  1829  to  1832  he  was  Mayor  of  New  London. 

He  was  the  first  President  of  the  New  London  Bank, 
which  was  chartered  in  1807. 

In  1817  he  was  chosen  to  be  a  Deacon  in  the  First  Con- 
gregational Church  in  New  London.  An  engraving  from 
his  full-length  portrait  is  given  in  a  volume  of  the  Ameri- 
can National  Register. 

His  wife  died  on. March  6,  1802,  in  her  29th  year;  and 
he  next  married  on  February  n,  1805,  Mary,  second 
daughter  of  John  and  Lucretia  (Christophers)  Mumford, 
of  the  present  township  of  Salem,  Connecticut,  who  died 
on  March  22,  1830,  in  her  56th  year. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
The  first  and  second  sons  were  both  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1812,  and  the  others  died  in  infancy.  The  younger  daugh- 
ter married  Charles  Griswold  (Yale  1808). 

Mr.  Perkins  died  in  New  London  on  September  27,  1845, 
in  his  79th  year. 

Two  of  his  private  letters  to  Governor  Griswold 
( 1 800-01)  are  printed  in  the  Family-Histories  and  Gen- 
ealogies of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Salisbury. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.    Hist.    Register,    ii    (1895),  A.  Perkins,  Perkins  Family,  Pt.  3,  28, 

1371.    Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  55.    M.  E.  Perkins,  Chronicles  of  a 

ii,    31.     Blake,    Early    Hist,    of    1st  Connecticut  Farm,  129, 158-59.    Salis- 

Church,  N.  London,  283.      Caulkins,  bury,     Family-Histories,     ii,     95-97. 

Hist,  of  N.  London,  667,  671.    Mitch-  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  129, 

ell,    Woodbridge    Record,    107.      G.  201,  238. 


504  Yale  College 


EDWARD  PORTER,  the  eldest  child  of  Deacon  Noah  Por- 
ter, of  Farmington,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  April  15, 
1765.  His  mother  was  Mercy,  daughter  of  Nehemiah  and 
Jerusha  (Gridley)  Lewis,  of  Farmington.  A  brother  was 
graduated  here  in  1795,  and  a  half-brother,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Noah  Porter,  in  1803. 

On  graduation  he  took  charge  of  an  academy  in  the 
North  Parish  of  Lebanon,  now  the  town  of  Columbia,  Con- 
necticut, but  soon  began  the  study  of  theology. 

After  being  licensed  to  preach  he  married,  on  November 
25,  1789,  Dolly  (or  Dorothea),  daughter  of  Isaac  and 
Mary  (Smith)  Gleason,  of  Farmington. 

Soon  after  this  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  Lyme,  Connecticut,  where 
he  was  ordained  in  February,  1790. 

His  relation  to  this  parish  was  terminated  in  September, 
1792 ;  and  in  July,  1794,  he  began  to  preach  as  a  candidate 
in  the  First  Parish  in  Waterbury,  Connecticut.  Three 
months  later  he  was  hired  for  one  year,  and  then  received 
an  invitation  to  settle  as  colleague-pastor  with  the  Rev. 
Mark  Leavenworth  (Yale  1737),  on  a  salary  of  £100. 

He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  was  installed  on  Novem- 
ber 18,  1795.  The  senior  pastor  died  in  August,  1797, 
and  four  months  later  Mr.  Porter  expressed  a  desire  to  be 
released  from  his  charge  in  consequence  of  failing  health. 
His  dismission  took  place  on  January  10,  1798. 

He  continued  to  reside  in  Waterbury,  and  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  clocks;  but  became  involved  in  an 
unfortunate  controversy  with  another  member  of  the 
church,  in  which  his  integrity  was  questioned.  The 
matter  was  brought  before  the  church,  and  though  the 
decision  seems  to  have  been  substantially  in  his  favor,  he 
was  excommunicated  from  the  church  on  August  16,  1812, 
and  soon  after  removed  his  residence,  at  first  to  Farming- 
ton,  and  eventually,  in  1824,  to  New  Haven,  where  he  was 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  505 

chosen  Deacon  in  the  United  Church  in  November,  1826. 
He  died  in  New  Haven  on  March  19,  1828,  aged  nearly 
63  years,  "much  respected  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  man  of 
piety." 

His  wife  long-  survived  him,  and  died  in  Norwich,  Con- 
necticut, on  December  2,  1845,  at  tne  the  a§"e  °^  7^. 

Their  children  were  one  daughter  and  three  sons,  of 
whom  the  second  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1826. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,   Hist,   of   Waterbury,   i,       Hist,     of     Waterbury,     290.       Conn. 
618-19,  and  Appendix,  105.    Branson,       Journal,  March  25,  1828. 


WILLIAM  BRINTNALL  RIPLEY,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Hezekiah  Ripley  (Yale  1763),  of  Green's  Farms,  in 
Fair  field,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  August  3,  1768. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  probably  under 
his  father's  direction,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Fair  field  West  Association  of  Ministers  on  May  26,  1789. 

In  January,  1792,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  as 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  (East)  Ballston, 
Saratoga  County,  New  York,  and  continued  in  that  office 
for  about  six  years. 

He  was  installed  in  November,  1798,  over  Goshen 
Parish  in  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  where  he  was  pastor 
until  his  death,  on  July  25,  1822,  at  the  age  of  54. 

On  September  30;  1792,  he  married  Lucy  Clift,  by  whom 
he  had  seven  sons,  all  of  whom  reached  maturity. 

Mrs.  Ripley  died  in  Nichols,  Tioga  County,  New  York, 
on  September  i,  1832,  at  the  age  of  65. 

On  his  father's  retirement  from  the  Corporation  of 
Yale  College,  in  September,  1817,  he  was  elected  to  the 
vacant  seat,  which  he  retained  until  his  death. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Conn.  Journal,  Aug.  6,  1822.    Ripley  Genealogy,  14,  17. 


506  Yale  College 

JOHN  SALTMARSH,  the  second  son  and  child  of  Lieuten- 
ant William  Saltmarsh,  of  Watertown,  Massachusetts, 
and  New  Canaan,  Columbia  County,  New  York,  and 
grandson  of  Thomas  and  Mary  Saltmarsh,  was  born  in 
Watertown  on  October  19,  1761.  His  mother  was  Eliza- 
beth, eldest  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Lydia  (Marean) 
Patterson,  of  Waltham,  Massachusetts.  He  entered  Col- 
lege at  the  beginning  of  the  Sophomore  year. 

He  was  absent  from  College  at  the  time  of  graduation, 
but  was  admitted  to  a  degree  in  1795. 

Meantime  he  had  followed  teaching  as  an  employment, 
and  he  married  in  1795  Rhoda,  youngest  child  of  Jabez 
and  Mary  (Bassett)  Beach,  of  North  Stratford,  now 
Trumbull,  Connecticut.  They  settled  at  Tioga  Point,  now 
Athens^  Pennsylvania,  on  the  Susquehanna  River.  He 
soon  received  the  appointment  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and 
kept  a  public  house  which  always  maintained  a  good 
reputation. 

His  death,  which  occurred  in  Athens  on  November  9, 
1815,  at  the  age  of  54,  was  regarded  as  a  great  loss  to  the 
community.  He  had  for  some  years  been  a  religious  man. 

Mrs.  Saltmarsh  died  on  July  4,  1847,  at  tne  age  °f  80. 
Their  children  were  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bond,    Hist,    of    Watertown,    414.      Perkins,   Early   Times   on   the   Sus- 
Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Stratford,  ii,   1125.       quehanna,  145,  240. 


GEORGE  SELDEN,  the  tenth  in  a  family  of  thirteen  chil- 
dren of  Colonel  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  Sheldon,  of  Had- 
lyme  Parish,  in  Lyme,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Cap- 
tain Samuel  and  Deborah  (Dudley),  Selden  of  Hadlyme, 
was  born  in  Lyme  on  February  27,  and  baptized  on  April  5, 
1763.  His  mother  was  the  eldest  child  of  Richard  and 
Elizabeth  (Peck)  Ely,  of  Lyme,  and  half-sister  of  the  Rev. 
Richard  Ely  (Yale  1754),  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  David  Ely 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  507 

(Yale  1769).  An  elder  brother  was  graduated  here  in 
1777. 

He  studied  medicine  in  Philadelphia,  and  settled  in 
Natchez,  Mississippi,  for  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

After  somewhat  extensive  travels  in  the  Western  region, 
he  returned  to  New  England  in  1794,  and  on  May  9,  1795, 
married  Olive  West,  of  Massachusetts. 

He  then  settled  in  Vienna,  on  the  Ohio  River,  in  what 
is  now  West  Virginia.  Thence  he  removed  about  ten 
miles  to  the  northeast,  to  Marietta,  Ohio,  where  (prob- 
ably) he  died,  on  May  27,  1817,  in  his  55th  year.  His 
wife  died  in  1831,  aged  56  years. 

His  children  were  two  sons  (one  of  whom  became  a 
lawyer,  and  the  other  an  Episcopal  clergyman)  and  three 
daughters. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Prof.  Daniel  C.  Eaton,  MS.  Letter,      Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  523- 
Dec.  9,  1885.    Ely  Ancestry,  99,  179.      24. 


SAMUEL  BURR  SHERWOOD,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Sherwood  (Yale  1749),  of  Nor  field  Society,  now  Weston, 
Connecticut,  was  born  on  November  26,  1767.  In  March 
of  his  Senior  year,  during  a  time  of  disturbance  in  Col- 
lege, he  took  a  dismission  with  a  view  to  entering  Harvard 
College;  but  as  his  scholarship  was  not  good,  he  was 
unsuccessful,  and  in  June  he  applied  for  re-admission  and 
was  directed  to  study  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight, 
of  Greenfield  Hill,  until  examination  in  September. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  settled  in  practice 
in  that  part  of  Fairfield  which  is  now  Westport,  Connecti- 
cut, becoming  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Fairfield 
County  Bar. 

He  was  a  Federalist  in  politics,  and  a  Representative  in 
the  General  Court  during  seven  sessions  between  1809  and 
1815,  and  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  in  1816.  He  was 


508  Yale  College 

elected  to  the  Fifteenth  Congress,  serving  from  1817  to 
1819;  but  his  native  modesty  and  his  shrinking  from  the 
scramble  for  office  led  him  to  prefer  the  life  of  a  private 
citizen.  His  knowledge  of  men  and  of  human  nature 
gave  him  superiority  as  a  jury  lawyer ;  and  aside  from  his 
public  interests  he  was  a  man  of  remarkable  activity, 
always  cheerful  and  full  of  good-humor. 

He  continued  in  uniform  good  health,  and  was  in  active 
practice  until  his  retirement  in  1831. 

He  was  prostrated  in  April,  1833,  by  a  sharp  attack  of 
brain-fever,  and  died  at  his  home  in  what  is  now  Westport, 
on  the  27th  of  that  month,  after  a  single  day's  illness,  in 
his  66th  year. 

He  married  on  September  3,  1787,  Charity,  daughter 
of  Dr.  Eliphalet  Hull  (Yale  1758),  of  Greenfield  Hill,  in 
Fairfield ;  and  after  her  death  he  married  her  sister,  Mrs. 
Deborah  Brush,  who  survived  him  for  a  number  of  years. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  three  daughters,  of  whom  the 
second  married  the  Hon.  Clark  Bissell  (Yale  1806),  and 
the  youngest  married  Charles  Jesup  (Yale  1814). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  v,       n.      Jessup    Genealogy,    177.     Pres. 
67.    Hurd,  Hist,  of  Fairfield  County,       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  227. 


ELIHU  HUBBARD  SMITH,  the  eldest  child  of  Dr.  Reuben 
Smith  (Yale  1757),  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  was  born 
in  Litchfield  on  September  4,  1771,  and  entered  College  at 
the  age  of  eleven.  A  sister  married  Thomas  Mumford 
(Yale  1790). 

After  graduation  he  spent  two  years  at  Greenfield  Hill, 
Connecticut,  under  the  further  instruction  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Timothy  Dwight,  and  then  returned  to  Litchfield,  and 
began  the  study  of  medicine  under  his  father's  direction. 
He  spent  the  winter  of  1790-91  in  Philadelphia,  in  attend- 
ance on  the  courses  of  medical  instruction  offered  there 
by  Dr.  Rush  and  others. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  509 

He  then  chose  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  as  his  resi- 
dence, and  entered  on  practice  there ;  but  although  he  was 
highly  respected  and  esteemed,  he  found  little  employment, 
and  consequently,  in  September,  1793,  removed  to  the  City 
of  New  York,  where  he  devoted  himself  with  ardor  to  his 
profession,  and  by  his  perseverance  and  attention  to  busi- 
ness surmounted  the  obstacles  which  naturally  arose  from 
his  youth  and  the  limited  number  of  his  acquaintance. 

In  1796  he  was  elected  one  of  the  physicians  of  the  New 
York  Hospital,  and  by  the  mode  in  which  he  discharged 
his  duties  increased  his  reputation. 

In  the  fall  of  1796,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Samuel  L. 
Mitchill  and  Dr.  Edward  Miller,  he  projected  the  publica- 
tion of  a  medical  periodical  in  New  York,  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  this  country.  He  was  particularly  active  in  the 
design,  and  devoted  a  large  part  of  his  attention  to  its 
execution,  in  the  five  numbers  issued  during  his  lifetime. 

While  actively  employed  in  his  professional  duties,  the 
yellow  fever,  in  September,  1798,  visited  the  city  of  New 
York.  Dr.  Smith  contracted  the  fever  in  a  peculiarly 
malignant  form,  and  died  after  four  days'  illness,  on 
September  19,  at  the  age  of  27.  He  was  unmarried. 

His  colleagues  in  the  editorship  of  the  Medical  Reposi- 
tory wrote  of  him:— 

As  a  physician,  his  loss  is  irreparable.  He  had  explored,  at 
his  early  age,  an  extent  of  medical  learning,  for  which  the  longer 
lives  are  seldom  found  sufficient.  His  diligence  and  activity,  his 
ardour  and  perseverance,  knew  no  common  bounds.  The  love  of 
science  and  the  impulse  of  philanthropy  directed  his  whole  pro- 
fessional career. 

Besides  his  professional  promise,  he  was  also  favorably 
known  as  a  writer  of  poetry,  and  in  his  earlier  career  con- 
tributed frequently  to  the  periodical  press  in  Philadelphia 
and  Hartford. 

An  engraving  from  a  portrait  accompanies  a  Sketch  of 
his  Life  and  Character  in  the  American  Medical  and 
Philosophical  Register  for  January,  1814. 


510  Yale  College 

He  was  elected  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society  in  December,  1797. 
He  published: 

1.  American  Poems,  selected  and  original.      Vol.  I.      Litchfield 
[1793].     8°,  pp.  viii,  304,  vii. 

[B.  Publ.    Brown  Univ.     L.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

This  was  the  first  general  collection  of  American  poetry  ever 
attempted,  and  it  preserves  many  interesting  pieces  which  might 
otherwise  have  escaped  notice.  The  editor's  name  is  not  given,  and 
there  is  little  or  nothing  of  his  own  composition. 

2.  Letters  to  William  Buel  [sic],  Physician,  Sheffield,  Massachu- 
setts, on  the  Fever  which  prevailed  in  New- York,  in  1795. 

In  Noah  Webster's  Collection  of  Papers  on  the  subject  of  Bilious 
Fevers,  New- York,  1796,  pp.  61-144. 

These  letters  were  addressed  to  Dr.  William  Bull  (Yale  1777). 

3.  Edwin  and  Angelina;    or  the  Banditti.     An  Opera,  in  three 
acts.     New- York,  1797.     8°,  pp.  72. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    /.  Carter  Brown  Libr.      M.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

As  stated  in  the  Preface,  this  drama  was  composed  in  March, 
1791 ;  it  was  first  acted  in  December,  1796. 

4.  A  Discourse,  delivered  April  u,  1798,  at  the  request  of  and 
before  the  New- York  Society  for  promoting  the  Manumission  of 
Slaves,   and  protecting  such  of  them   as   have  been   or   may   be 
liberated.     New- York,  1798.     8°,  pp.  30. 

[AT.  Y.  H.  S.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     Y.  C. 

5.  In    1798    he    edited,    for    re-publication,    Erasmus    Darwin's 
Botanic  Garden,  and  prefixed  a  poetic  Epistle  to  the  author  (pp.  6). 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  his  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  the  Medical  Repository,  on  the  following  subjects 
among  others : — 

History  of  the  Plague  of  Athens;  Case  of  Mania  successfully 
treated  by  Mercury ;  On  the  Origin  of  the  Pestilential  Fever,  which 
prevailed  in  the  island  of  Grenada,  in  1793  and  1794;  On  a  singular 
Case  of  Disease  in  Infancy;  Concerning  the  Elk;  On  the  Plagues 
of  Syracuse. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  511 

Andre,  a  tragedy,  New  York,  1798,  which  has  been  attributed  to 
Dr.  Smith,  was  written  by  his  intimate  friend,  William  Dunlap. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.    Medical    and    Philosophical  Repository,     ii,     145,     227-28.      The 

Register,  iv,  391-99.    Conn.  Journal,  Political  Green-House,  for  1798,  n- 

Sept.  26,  1798.    Dunlap,  Hist,  of  the  12.     Wai-worth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  ii, 

Amer.     Theatre,     156-57.      Everest,  828.     Woodruff,  Geneal.  Register  of 

Poets    of    Conn.,    105-12.       Medical  Litchfield,  206. 


WILLIAM  STONE,  the  third  son  of  Seth  Stone,  of  East 
Guilford,  now  Madison,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Ebenezer  and  Hannah  (Norton)  Stone,  of  Guilford,  was 
born  on  July  10,  1759.  His  mother  was  Rachel,  second 
daughter  of  Caleb  and  Mary  (Hubbard)  Leete,  of  Guil- 
ford. 

He  served  for  three  years  in  the  Revolutionary  army, 
before  entering  College,  having  enlisted  as  a  private 
soldier  in  the  Seventh  Connecticut  Line  in  June,  1777. 
With  this  regiment  he  engaged  at  the  battles  of  German- 
town  and  Monmouth,  and  wintered  at  Valley  Forge. 

He  spent  his  Freshman  year  at  Dartmouth  College,  and 
after  his  removal  to  Yale  attained  distinction  as  a  scholar. 
He  united  with  the  College  Church  on  profession  of  his 
faith  in  December  of  his  Senior  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  his  pastor, 
the  Rev.  Jonathan  Todd  (Yale  1732),  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  County  Association  on  May 
30,  1787.  He  was  married,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Todd,  on 
December  ii,  1787,  to  Tamson,  second  daughter  of 
Ebenezer  and  Mary  (Willard)  Graves,  of  East  Guilford. 

For  the  next  four  or  five  years  he  filled  temporary 
engagements  as  a  teacher  and  preacher  in  widely  sepa- 
rated sections  of  the  country, — for  much  of  the  time  in  the 
Carolinas  and  Georgia,  and  in  particular  on  General 
Wayne's  plantation. 


512  Yale  College 

On  returning  to  the  North,  he  preached  for  a  season 
on  the  eastern  part  of  Long  Island,  where  he  had  previ- 
ously taught  school.  He  then  took  charge  of  a  church 
in  New  Paltz,  Ulster  County,  New  York,  and  was  ordained 
there — the  sermon  on  that  occasion  being  preached  by  his 
classmate  Griswold.  His  stay  there  was  brief,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1793  he  removed  to  the  present  township  of 
Bainbridge  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  in  Chenango 
County,  and  for  the  next  four  years  devoted  himself  to 
missionary  labor  in  that  vicinity. 

He  removed,  in  the  fall  of  1797,  some  thirty-five  miles 
to  the  northeastward,  to  Burlington,  in  Otsego  County, 
and  for  ten  years  preached  with  varying  success  in  that 
region. 

Smarting  at  some  ill-treatment,  in  1807  he  removed 
again,  to  Redfield  on  Salmon  River,  in  Oswego  County, 
where  for  seven  or  eight  years  more  he  continued  preach- 
ing in  the  newer  settlements.  He  also  during  this  period 
taught  for  a  short  time  in  the  well-known  Academy  in 
Fairfield,  Herkimer  County,  and  was  offered  the  principal- 
ship,  but  declined  it  because  dramatic  performances  were 
customarily  given. 

In  1817  he  removed  to  Junius,  in  Seneca  County,  and 
thence  in  1819  to  Sodus,  in  Wayne  County,  on  the  shore 
of  Lake  Ontario.  He  was  employed  in  1818-19  by  the 
Albany  Missionary  Society  on  mission  work  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  State,  and  similarly  in  1820-21  by 
the  Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  of  New  York;  but 
after  this  an  injury  resulting  from  the  felling  of  a  tree 
disabled  him  from  further  labor,  and  the  rest  of  his  life 
was  mainly  spent  in  seclusion.  He  died  in  Sodus  on 
March  20,  1840,  in  his  8ist  year. 

His  wife  died  in  Sodus,  after  a  protracted  illness,  on 
June  14,  1842,  in  her  79th  year.  Their  children  were  six 
sons  and  five  daughters.  The  second  son  was  the  distin- 
guished editor  and  proprietor  of  the  New  York  Spectator, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  513 

Mr.  Stone  was  a  man  of  strong  intellect,  but  of  a 
peculiar  constitutional  and  mental  temperament,  bordering 
upon  eccentricity.  He  was  without  worldly  ambition,  and 
preferred  life  on  the  frontier  to  any  opportunities  among 
cultivated  society.  The  two  leading  interests  (outside  of 
his  family)  which  absorbed  him  were  his  religious  work, 
including  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  original 
tongues,  and  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hotchkin,  Hist,  of  Western  N.  Y.,  June  22,  1842.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 

69.     Johnston,  Yale  in   the  Revolu-  Diary,  iii,  154,  199,  217,  266.     Stone 

tion,  348.      Leete  Family,  24.      New-  Family,  13,  19-28. 
York  Spectator,  March  26,  1840,  and 


SIMEON  STRONG,  the  eldest  child  of  Judge  Simeon 
Strong  (Yale  1756),  was  born  in  Amherst,  Massachu- 
setts, on  February  22,  1764. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  settled  in  practice 
in  Conway,  Massachusetts,  where  he  married,  on  June  5, 
1795,  Lois  Cobb,  third  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Emerson 
(Harvard  Coll.  1764)  and  Sabra  (Cobb)  Emerson. 

In  1802  he  removed  to  Amherst,  where  his  father  was 
still  living,  and  there  continued  in  practice.  He  repre- 
sented Amherst  in  the  Legislature  in  1809,  1812,  1813,  and 
1814.  He  died  there  on  September  2,  1841,  aged  77^ 
years.  His  wife  died  five  days  later,  aged  65  years. 

Their  children  were  four  sons,  all  of  whom  grew  to 
maturity.  The  third  son  was  graduated  at  the  Berkshire 
Medical  School  in  1829,  and  the  youngest  son  at  Amherst 
College  in  1826. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight,    Strong    Family,    ii,    1334.       Hist,   of   Hadky,  2d   ed.,  Appendix, 
Emerson    Family,    135,    182.      Judd,       141. 

33 


514  Yale  College 

NATHANIEL  TERRY,  the  second  son  of  Colonel  Nathan- 
iel Terry,  of  Enfield,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Major 
Ephraim  and  Ann  (Collins)  Terry,  of  Enfield,  was  born 
in  Enfield  on  January  30,  1768.  His  mother  was  Abiah, 
fourth  daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  and  Mary  (Lyman) 
Dwight,  of  Middletown  and  Enfield.  His  only  sister  mar- 
ried the  Rev.  John  Taylor  (Yale  1784).  He  spent  his 
Freshman  year  at  Dartmouth  College. 

He  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  Jesse  Root,  in  Hartford, 
after  graduation,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1790. 
He  then  began  practice  in  his  native  town;  but  in  1796 
removed  to  Hartford,  where  he  married,  on  March  14, 
1798,  Catharine,  daughter  of  Colonel  Jeremiah  Wads- 
worth  (honorary  A.M.  Yale  1796)  and  Mehitabel  (Rus- 
sell) Wadsworth. 

He  was  one  of  the  Representatives  of  Hartford  in  the 
General  Assembly  during  twelve  sessions  from  1804  to 
1815,  and  served  in  that  office  with  distinguished  ability. 
He  was  a  studious  and  thorough  lawyer,  of  great  power 
as  a  public  speaker,  and  devoted  to  his  profession;  but  in 
May,  1807,  he  was  appointed  Chief  Judge  of  the  County 
Court,  which  obliged  him  to  relinquish  his  practice,  except 
in  the  higher  Courts.  He  resigned  this  office  in  1809. 

He  served  for  one  term  (1817-19)  in  Congress,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Convention  for  framing  a  new 
Constitution  for  Connecticut  in  1818. 

He  was  the  President  of  the  Hartford  Bank  from  1819 
to  1828,  and  Mayor  of  the  City  from  1824  to  1831. 

He  was  also  a  General  of  Militia. 

His  death  occurred  in  New  Haven,  on  June  14,  1844, 
in  his  76th  year. 

His  wife  died  in  Hartford,  on  October  26,  1841,  in  her 
68th  year. 

Their  children  were  six  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
second  and  third  sons  were  graduated  at  Yale  in  1820 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  515 

and  1821,  respectively.  The  fifth  son  was  graduated  at 
the  Yale  Medical  School  in  1831,  and  the  youngest  son 
at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  New  York 
in  1833.  The  second  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Leonard  Bacon  (Yale  1820),  and  the  youngest  daughter 
married  George  Brinley  (honorary  M.A.  Yale  1868), 
a  generous  benefactor  of  the  Yale  Library. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  97.       190-91,   33*,   385,   SOG,   602.      Wads- 
Terry    Families,    35,    73-74.      Trum-       worth  Family,  201. 
bull,  Hist,  of  Hartford  County,  i,  124, 


AMBROSE  TODD,  the  fourth  son  of  Jonah  and  Lowly 
(Harrison)  Todd,  of  Northford  Society,  in  North  Bran- 
ford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Stephen  and  Lydia 
(Ives)  Todd,  was  born  on  December  7,  1764. 

Upon  graduation  he  began  his  preparation  for  the 
ministry  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  which  he  was 
ordained  Deacon  by  Bishop  Seabury,  in  Stamford,  on 
June  i,  1787.  He  at  once  took  charge  of  St.  Andrew's 
Church  in  Simsbury,  Connecticut,  where  he  remained  for 
twelve  years,  being  advanced  to  the  priesthood  on  June  7, 
1789,  by  Bishop  Seabury  in  Norwalk. 

In  November,  1799,  finding  his  salary  inadequate,  he 
accepted  the  rectorship  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Huntington, 
Connecticut,  where  he  labored  devotedly  to  the  end  of  his 
life. 

He  died  in  Huntington,  from  consumption,  after  three 
months'  illness,  on  July  25,  1809,  in  his  45th  year.  His 
tombstone  bears  witness  to  "his  piety  and  zeal  as  a 
preacher,  and  his  benevolence  and  goodness  as  a  man." 

He  was  married  on  December  25,  1788,  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Dibble,  of  Stamford,  to  Lavinia,  youngest  daughter 
of  Samuel  and  Martha  (Seymour)  Jarvis,  of  Stamford, 
Connecticut,  and  niece  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Abraham  Jarvis 


516  Yale  College 

(Yale  1761).     She  died  on  October  26,   1841,  aged  80 
years. 

They  had  two  daughters  and  three  sons;  the  two  elder 
sons  entered  the  Episcopal  ministry, — one  of  whom 
received  an  honorary  M.A.  degree  from  Yale  College  in 
1824. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,     Early     Conn.     Marriages,       vis  Family,  18,  30-31.     Munson  Fam- 
vii,   21.     Churchman's    Magazine,   vi      ily  Record,   i,  87.    Sprague,  Annals 
(1809),  370-72.   Conn.  Diocesan  Con-       of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  v,  416.     Tuttle 
vocation     Records,     157-58.       Hurd,       Family,  327,   329. 
Hist,  of  Fairfield  County,  412.     Jar- 


JACOB  RUTSEN  VAN  RENSSELAER,  son  of  Robert  and 
Cornelia  (Rutsen)  Van  Rensselaer,  of  Claverack,  Colum- 
bia County,  New  York,  and  grandson  of  Johannes  and 
Angelica  (Livingston)  Van  Rensselaer,  of  Greenbush 
and  Claverack,  was  born  at  the  manor  house  in  Claverack 
in  1767.  He  was  absent  from  College  for  most  of  Senior 
year,  on  account  of  illness,  and  did  not  receive  his  degree 
until  1787. 

He  studied  law,  and  after  being  admitted  to  the  bar 
practiced  in  Claverack,  and  was  regarded  as  a  lawyer  of 
ability ;  but  being  a  strong  Federalist  he  became  engrossed 
in  politics,  and  this  with  other  outside  engagements  led  to 
his  giving  up  his  practice  to  a  large  extent.  Being  a  man 
of  talents,  liberal,  generous,  and  patriotic,  and  a  bold, 
active,  and  zealous  politician,  he  became  one  of  the  most 
popular  men  in  the  State. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly  for  ten  sessions 
between  1800  and  1819,  and  was  elected  Speaker  in  1812. 

In  1815  he  introduced  and  advocated  with  great  skill 
the  bill  which  provided  for  the  construction  of  the  Erie 
Canal. 

He  was  County  Clerk  for  one  year,  1801-02,  and  Secre- 
tary of  the  State  for  two  years,  1813-15.  He  had  held 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  517 

a  commission  as  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  Militia  since  1797, 
and  in  the  war  of  1812  he  commanded  the  men  drafted 
from  Columbia  County,  who  were  ordered  to  the  defence 
of  New  York  City.  He  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of 
Brigadier-General  in  1819. 

He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
the  State  in  1821,  and  exercised  great  influence  in  that 
body,  being  a  ready  and  frequent  debater. 

He  died  in  New  York  City  on  September  22,  1835,  in 
his  69th  year. 

He  married  Cornelia  De  Peyster,  and  had  a  family  of 
six  daughters  and  three  sons. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Holgate,  Amer.  Genealogy,  44.  Great  Lawyers  of  Columbia  County, 
Lamb,  Hist,  of  the  City  of  N.  Y.,  116-17.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 
ii,  672-73.  Miller,  A  Group  of  iii,  47. 


CALVIN  WHITE,  the  seventh  child  and  fifth  son  of 
Moses  and  Huldah  (Knowles)  White,  of  Upper  Middle- 
town,  now  Cromwell,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Deacon  Isaac  and  Sibyl  (Butler)  White,  of  Cromwell,  was 
born  on  December  17,  1762,  and  baptized  two  days  later. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  on  June  29, 

1791,  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Hanover,  New  Jersey.      He  married,   on  February  28, 

1792,  Phebe,  daughter  of  Captain  Nathaniel  and  Rachel 
Camp,  of  Newark,  New  Jersey. 

His  career  in  Hanover  was  brief,  and  on  November  17, 
1795,  he  was  dismissed  at  his  own  request. 

As  the  result  of  further  study  he  became  a  candidate 
for  orders  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  was  ordained 
Deacon  by  Bishop  Jarvis  of  Connecticut  in  Bridgeport, 
on  June  28,  1798.  He  was  then  sent  to  St.  John's  Church, 
Stamford,  Connecticut,  as  Assistant  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Ebenezer  Dibble  (Yale  1734),  who  died  in  May,  1799. 


518  Yale  College 

Mr.  White's  next  charge  was  the  church  in  Middetown, 
Connecticut,  from  September,  1799,  to  July,  1800,  when 
he  left  without  warning.  Meantime  he  was  advanced  to 
the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Jarvis  at  Cheshire  on  December 
I,  1799. 

After  this  he  was  again  in  charge  of  the  Stamford 
parish. 

On  July  21,  1803,  ne  was  inducted  as  Rector  of  Grace 
Church,  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  with  a  salary  of  $500: 
but  complaints  were  made  of  his  inefficiency  in  pastoral 
duty,  and  he  left  this  parish  also  abruptly,  on  August  17, 
1804. 

He  then  settled  in  Derby,  Connecticut,  as  Assistant  to 
the  venerable  Dr.  Richard  Mansfield  (Yale  1741)  in 
charge  of  St.  James'  Church,  and  continued  in  this  capac- 
ity, in  great  poverty,  until  after  Dr.  Mansfield's  death  in 
1820. 

By  this  time  he  had  adopted  certain  views  of  the 
authority  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  which  were 
inconsistent  with  his  professional  standing,  and  by  July, 
1821,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  his  practical  union  with 
Roman  Catholic  belief. 

He  continued,  however,  to  minister  to  his  parish  until 
the  summer  of  1822,  when  he  was  formally  deposed  by 
Bishop  Brownell.  For  the  rest  of  his  life  he  remained 
as  a  layman  in  the  house  which  he  had  so  long  occupied  as 
a  rectory,  in  sight  of  the  church  where  he  had  officiated. 

His  wife  died  in  Derby  on  November  23,  1826,  in  her 
57th  year,  and  he  married  in  1827,  Jane,  daughter  of  John 
Mardenbrough,  of  St.  Martin  Island,  in  the  West  Indies. 

He  preserved  his  faculties  and  his  health  perfectly  until 
the  last,  and  died  in  Derby,  from  a  sudden  failure  of  the 
digestive  organs,  on  March  21,  1853,  m  ms  9Ist  year. 
His  widow  died  there  on  October  18,  1863,  m  ner  8oth 
year. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  eight  sons,  of  whom  seven 


Biographical  Sketches,  1786  519 

reached  maturity,  and  one  daughter.  Richard  Grant 
White,  the  author  and  critic,  was  a  grandson. 

He  was  a  good  scholar,  and  in  particular  a  master  of 
Hebrew. 

His  sympathies  were  with  the  Tories  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary struggle,  and  he  always  spoke  of  the  Revolution 
as  a  rebellion.  He  never  voted  in  his  life. 

Eight  of  his  letters  (1805-1818)  to  Bishop  Hobart  of 
New  York,  who  befriended  him  in  his  pecuniary  need, 
are  given  in  Dr.  McVickar's  Memoir  of  the  Bishop's 
Professional  Years.  The  editor  describes  him  as  "a 
humble  country  clergyman  whose  quaintness,  learning, 
and  goodheartedness  cast  a  sunbeam  upon  poverty." 


AUTHORITIES. 

Beardsley,  Hist,  of  the  Church  in  H.  Palladium,  March  23,  1853.     On- 

Conn.,  ii,  u,  104-05.    Field,  Centen-  derdonk,    Hist,    of    Grace    Church, 

nial    Address    at    Middletown,    175.  Jamaica,    89-91.      Orcutt,    Hist,    of 

Kellogg,  White  Memorials,  91,   145-  Derby,  299,  606,  823.     Sabine,  Amer. 

46.     McVickar,    Professional    Years  Loyalists,  2d  ed.,  ii,  420.    Pres.  Stiles, 

of  Bp.  Hobart,  114-120,  329-32.     N.  Literary  Diary,  iii,  45,  226. 


FREDERICK  WOLCOTT,  the  younger  surviving  son  of 
Governor  Oliver  Wolcott  (Yale  1747),  was  born  in  Litch- 
field,  Connecticut,  on  November  2,  1767.  He  was  specially 
distinguished  for  classical  scholarship  in  College. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  but  was  prevented  by 
ill-health  from  engaging  in  active  practice.  He  settled  in 
his  native  town,  where  he  held  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  from  1793.  He  was  also  Clerk 
of  the  Superior  Court  of  the  County  from  its  establishment 
in  1798,  and  Judge  of  the  Litchfield  Probate  District 
from  1796.  These  offices  he  held  until  his  resignation  in 
1836. 

He  was  also  a  Representative  in  the  General  Assembly 
in  two  sessions  (1802-03),  and  a  State  Senator  from  1810 
to  1823.  By  virtue  of  his  seniority  in  the  Senate  he  was 


520  Yale  College 

an  ex-officio  member  of  the  Corporation  of  the  College 
from  1817  to  1823.  He  was  chosen  a  Presidential  Elector 
in  1808,  and  twice  declined  offers  of  a  nomination  as 
Governor  of  the  State. 

He  died  in  Litchfield  on  May  28,  1837,  aged  6954  years. 

Judge  Wolcott  was  a  gentleman  of  stately  manners, 
distinguished  for  his  courtesy,  benevolence,  and  hospi- 
tality, of  sterling  integrity,  and  uncommonly  sound  judg- 
ment. 

He  was  the  prime  mover  in  extensive  manufacturing 
enterprises  established  at  Wolcottville,  now  Torrington, 
Connecticut,  in  which  his  brother,  Governor  Oliver  Wol- 
cott (Yale  1778),  was  also  concerned. 

Two  portraits  are  owned  in  the  family,  one  of  which  is 
engraved  in  the  Wolcott  Memorial.  Three  of  his  letters 
are  printed  in  that  volume. 

He  married,  on  October  12,  1800,  Betsey,  the  only  child 
of  Colonel  Joshua  and  Hannah  (Huntington)  Hunting- 
ton),  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  who  died  on  April  2,  1812, 
in  her  38th  year. 

He  next  married,  on  June  21,  1815,  Sally,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Goodrich  (Yale  1783),  of  Berlin, 
Connecticut,  and  widow  of  Amos  Cooke  (Yale  1791), 
of  Danbury,  Connecticut.  She  died  in  Litchfield  on 
September  14,  1842,  aged  57  years. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  four  daughters  and  two 
sons,  all  of  whom  reached  maturity.  The  third  daughter 
married  John  P.  Jackson  (Princeton  1823),  and  the 
youngest  daughter  married  Robert  G.  Rankin  (Yale 
1826). 

Judge  Wolcott's  children  by  his  second  wife  were  three 
sons  (of  whom  one  died  in  infancy)  and  one  daughter. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Case,  Goodrich  Family,  129.  Fow-  ealogies,  ii,  196-98.  Pres.  Stiles,  Lit- 
ler,  Chauncey  Memorials,  167.  Hoi-  erary  Diary,  iii,  126,  129,  238. 
lister,  Hist,  of  Conn.,  ii,  268-69.  Wolcott  Memorial,  151,  314-52. 
Huntington  Family  Memoir,  247-48.  Woodruff,  Litchfield  Genealogical 
Salisbury,  Family  Histories  and  Gen-  Register,  249,  252. 


Annals,  1786-87  521 


Annals,  1786-87 


The  College  year  was  comparatively  uneventful.  There 
was  no  change  in  the  corps  of  tutors  as  arranged  for  at 
the  preceding  Commencement;  Tutor  Morse,  however, 
was  absent  on  a  Southern  tour  from  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  and  his  resignation  of  the  office  was  received  in  May. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Josiah  Whitney  (Yale  1752),  of  Brooklyn, 
was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Corporation  at  Commence- 
ment in  1787,  in  place  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  Johnson  (Yale 
1743),  of  Lyme,  who  had  died  in  the  previous  November. 

The  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler  (Yale  1765)  passed  through 
New  Haven  on  his  way  to  New  York  in  July,  1787,  and  the 
following  extracts  from  his  published  Diary  are  of 
interest : 

Monday,  July  2 After  I  had  waited  on  a  barber,  I  paid 

my  compliments  to  Dr.  Stiles,  the  President  of  the  college.  The 
doctor  was  just  coming  out  from  his  gate,  going  to  the  chapel  to 
attend  evening  prayers.  I  begged  leave  to  accompany  him,  and  for 
the  first  time  attended  prayers  in  the  college  chapel  since  I  took  my 
degree.  I  declined  a  seat  in  the  desk.  The  President  introduced 
me  to  the  stranger's  pew.  The  students  were  about  160,  and  the 
several  classes  made  a  very  respectable  appearance.  The  dress  and 
manners  of  the  senior  class  were  genteel  and  graceful. 

....  Inclosing  the  burying-ground,  and  erecting  a  number  of 
public  buildings  on  the  public  square,  has  greatly  altered  it.  But 
the  most  affecting  change  to  me  is  the  loss  of  Mother  Yale.  Yale 
College  was  by  far  the  most  sightly  building  of  any  one  that 
belonged  to  the  University,  and  most  advantageously  situated.  It 
gave  an  air  of  grandeur  to  the  others.  There  are  now  only  Con- 
necticut Hall,  the  Chapel,  which  is  three  stories,  containing  the 
Library  and  Cabinet,  also  the  Dining-hall  and  Kitchen.  These  are 
all  built  of  brick,  but  so  situated  as  to  make  very  little  show.  The 
city  of  New  Haven  covers  a  large  piece  of  ground,  a  little  descend- 
ing toward  the  sea,  with  a  southern  aspect.  It  is  laid  out  in  regular 


522  Yale  College 

squares,  with  a  public  square  near  the  center.  Its  streets  are  toler- 
ably wide,  and  some  of  them  ornamented  with  rows  of  trees.  There 
is  a  row  of  trees  set  round  the  public  square,  which  were  small 
while  I  was  at  college,  but  are  now  large,  and  add  much  to  its 
beauty;  a  row  across  the  center  has  been  very  lately  set  out,  in 
a  line  with  the  State  House,  two  large  Meeting  Houses  and  the 
Grammar  School.  Within  the  square,  and  on  the  borders  of  others 
adjoining,  are  six  steeples  and  cupolas  on  public  buildings,  within 
a  very  small  compass  of  ground.  These  steeples,  when  you 
approach  the  city  in  whatever  direction,  have  an  agreeable  effect. 
The  houses  in  general  are  good,  some  of  them  elegant,  and  a  great 
proportion  of  them  built  with  brick.  The  streets  are  generally  dry, 
but  very  sandy,  and  will,  probably,  never  be  paved,  as  it  must  be 
attended  with  great  expense.  The  Harbor  is  good,  and  the  ship- 
ping very  considerable,  principally  in  the  coasting  and  West  India 
trade. 

Tuesday,  July  3.  Breakfasted  this  morning  with  Dr.  Stiles.  He 
has  four  daughters,  unmarried,  very  agreeable.  . . . 

Immediately  after  breakfast,  the  tutors  came  in  to  invite  me  to 
the  College.  Dr.  Stiles  accompanied  us.  We  took  a  view  of 
the  Library,  the  Philosophy  Chamber,  and  Cabinet.  The  Library  is 
small;  the  collection  consists  principally  of  rather  antiquated 
authors.  The  Philosophical  apparatus  is  still  less  valuable — an  air- 
pump,  tolerably  good;  a  reflecting  telescope,  wholly  useless,  for 
the  large  and  small  mirrors  are  covered  with  rust,  occasioned  by 
poking  in  greasy  ringers ;  a  microscope  of  the  compound  kind,  but 
very  ancient;  a  miserable  electrical  machine;  a  large,  homely 
orrery,  made  by  one  of  the  students ;  a  hydrostatic  balance,  and  a 
few  other  articles,  not  worth  naming.  A  handsome  sum,  however, 
is  now  being  collected  for  purchasing  a  complete  Philosophical 
apparatus.  The  Cabinet  is  a  good  collection,  but  very  badly 
disposed. 

I  had  intended  to  proceed  on  my  journey,  but  the  time  passed 
insensibly  in  the  agreeable  company  of  these  gentlemen,  who  are 
truly  literary  characters,  and  I  consented  to  tarry  to  dinner. 
Indeed  I  could  not  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  spending  a  little 
time  at  the  place  where  I  received  my  education,  and  from  which 
I  had  been  absent  so  many  years. 

At  ii  o'clock  the  tutors  attended  their  classes,  and  the  Doctor 
and  I  returned  to  his  house. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  523 


Sketches,   Class  of  1787 


*Moses  Atwater  "1847 
*Azel  Backus,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  Neo-Caes.  1810,  Coll. 

Hamilt.  Praeses  *i8i6 

*Matthaeus  Backus  *i8o7 

*  Augustus  Baldwin  "1807 
*Horatius  Beardsley,  A.M. 

*Josua  Belden  *i8o8 

* Johannes  Bishop,  A.M.  *i8c>3 

*Enos  Bliss,  A.M.  *i852 

*Franciscus  Bloodgood  *i84O 

*Publius  Vergilius  Bogue,  A.M.  *i8s6 

*Eli  Bullard,  A.M.  "1824 

*Hugo  Burghardt,  M.D.  Harv.  1818  *:822 

*Josephus  Eleazarus  Camp,  A.M.  1792  *i838 

*Silas  Churchill,  A.M.  "1854 

*Daniel  Cook  *i8o4 
*Josua  Dewey,  1789 
*Ebenezer  Button 
*Christophorus  Ellery,  A.M.,  Rerumpubl.  Foed.  Sen.  *i84O 

*Guilielmus  Ely,  e  Congr.  *i8i7 

*Guilielmus  Ely  *i847 

*Nicolaus  Evertson  *i8o7 

*Josephus  Foot,  M.D.  1816  *i836 

*Ebenezer  Gay,  A.M.,  Tutor  "1837 
*Gideon  Granger,   Rerumpubl.  Foed.   Rei  Vered. 

Curator  Summus  *i822 

*Gaylord  Griswold,  e  Congr.  *i8(X) 
*Josua  Hathaway 
*Guilielmus  Hawley 

*Ebenezer  Hunt  *i8o8 

*David  Moody  Jewett  *i82i 


524  Yale  College 

*Roswell  Judson,  A.M. 

*Guilielmus  Kibbe 

*Libertas  Kimberly 

*Chauncaeus    Langdon,    A.M.    Mediob.    1803,    e 

Congr.  *i830 

*Daniel  Lathrop,  1789  *i825 

*Elija  Leonard  Lathrop  *i843 

*Gurdonus  Lathrop,  1789  *i828 

*  Johannes  Hosmer  Lothrop,  A.M.  1792  *i829 
*Richardus  McCurdy  *i857 
*Reuben  Moss,  A.M.  1791  *i8o9 
^Israel  Munson  *i844 
*Abrahamus   Nott,   A.M.    1801,   e   Congr.,    Reip. 

Carol.  Austr.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  Princ.  *i83<D 

*Elija  Perkins  *i8o6 

*Oliverus  Pitkin 
^Free  grace  Raynolds,  A.M. 

*  Sylvester  Sage,  A.M.  *i84i 

*  Alexander  Sheldon,  M.D.  Coll.  Med.  et  Chirurg. 

Nov.  Ebor.  1812,  A.M.  Hamilt.  1826  ^836 

*Rogerus  Sherman,  A.M.  *i856 

*Adna  Stanley  *i825 

*Elisaeus  Sterling  *!836 

*Nathan  Stiles  *i8o4 

^'Johannes  Stoddard,  A.M.  1796  "1853 

* Samuel  Sturges  *J835 

*Guilielmus  Taylor  ^838 

*Eli  Todd,  M.D.  Soc.  Med.  Conn.  1813  et  ejusd. 

Praeses  *i833 

*Calvinus  Tyler  *I788 

*  Jacobus  Wadsworth 
*Rogerus  Whittlesey 

*David  Howe  Williston,  A.M.  et  Dartm.  1793  *i845 


MOSES  ATWATER,  the  fourth  son  of  Benjamin  and  Phebe 
(Moss)  Atwater,  of  that  part  of  Wallingford,  Connecti- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  525 

cut,  which  is  now  Cheshire,  and  grandson  of  Joseph  and 
Hannah  (Doolittle)  Atwater,  of  New  Haven  and  Wal- 
lingford, was  born  on  May  12,  1765.  His  father  was 
reputed  to  have  means,  but  from  parsimony  obliged  his 
son  to  earn  money  by  teaching  school,  so  that  he  was 
absent  from  College  during  the  first  term  of  Senior  year 
and  through  January. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine  and  in  1791 
removed  to  Canandaigua,  New  York,  where  he  held  a 
prominent  position  as  a  physician,  and  was  esteemed  as 
a  man  of  sterling  character,  though  of  some  marked 
eccentricities. 

He  was  appointed  an  associate  justice  of  the  County 
Court  in  November,  1795.  He  was  a  devoted  member 
of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

He  died  in  Canandaigua  on  November  15,  1847,  aged 
82^  years. 

He  married  Panthea,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Damaris 
(Atwater)  Tyler,  of  Wallingford,  and  a  sister  of  the 
wife  of  Samuel  J.  Andrews  (Yale  1785).  They  had 
two  daughters  and  two  sons. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Atwater  History,  139,  186.     Davis,       chase,    178-79.      Wentworth    Geneal- 
Hist.  of  Wallingford,  632.     Turner,       ogy,  ii,  713. 
Hist,  of  Phelps  and  Gorham's  Pur- 


AZEL  BACKUS,  elder  child  of  Jabez  and  Deborah  (Fan- 
ning) Backus,  of  Norwich  West  Farms,  now  Franklin, 
Connecticut,  and  nephew  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Backus 
(Yale  1769),  was  born  on  October  13,  1765.  Five  years 
later  his  father  died,  and  his  place  was  poorly  supplied 
after  a  few  years  by  the  second  husband  of  his  mother. 

At  the  age  of  17  he  went  to  Somers,  to  finish  his  prep- 
aration for  College  under  his  uncle's  direction,  and  there 
became  for  the  first  time  the  subject  of  religious  impres- 
sions. 


526  Yale  College 

Shortly  after  graduation  he  took  charge  of  a  Grammar 
School  in  Wethersfield,  Connecticut.  Later  he  studied 
theology  with  his  uncle,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Association  of  Tolland  County  Ministers  on  June  I,  1790. 

He  soon  began  to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Bethlehem,  Connecticut,  late  the  charge 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Bellamy,  where  he  was  ordained 
pastor  on  April  6,  1791 ;  the  sermon  preached  on  this 
occasion  by  his  uncle  was  afterwards  published. 

He  was  a  man  of  an  original  cast  of  mind,  and  his 
sermons  were  powerfully  written,  and  delivered  with 
ardent  feeling,  so  that  he  rose  rapidly  to  distinction.  As 
his  parish  was  of  only  moderate  size  and  his  salary  small, 
he  opened  shortly  after  his  settlement  a  select  school  for 
the  preparation  of  young  men  for  College,  which  became 
deservedly  celebrated  for  the  teacher's  tact  and  success, 
and  was  kept  up  until  he  removed  from  the  State.  He 
also  instructed  a  few  candidates  for  the  ministry  in 
theology. 

He  was  deeply  interested  in  political  affairs  as  an  ardent 
Federalist,  and  when  appointed  by  the  elder  Governor 
Oliver  Wolcott  at  an  unusually  early  age  to  preach  the 
Election  Sermon,  he  delivered  a  very  striking  and  pointed 
discourse  on  the  character  of  the  demagogue. 

At  a  later  period,  after  Jefferson's  election,  he  inveighed 
strongly  in  a  sermon  against  the  President's  supposed, 
unbelief,  and  was  in  consequence  prosecuted  for  libel. 
The  case  dragged  along  in  the  District  Court  for  four  or 
five  years,  and  was  finally  dismissed  without  coming  to 
trial. 

In  1810  he  was  honored  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  Princeton  College. 

In  September,  1812,  largely  through  the  influence  of  his 
classmate,  John  H.  Lothrop,  he  was  elected  the  first  Presi- 
dent of  Hamilton  College,  in  Clinton,  New  York.  After 
considerable  hesitation  he  accepted  the  appointment,  and 
was  inducted  into  office  on  December  3. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787.  527 

His  long  experience  in  teaching  prepared  him  for  suc- 
cess in  this  new  field,  while  his  popular  talents  and 
generous  sensibilities  made  him  a  favorite  in  the  com- 
munity. 

While  yet  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  powers  he  succumbed 
to  typhus  fever,  contracted  while  watching  with  one  of  the 
College  Tutors  who  was  ill  from  that  disease,  and  died, 
in  Hamilton,  after  a  few  days'  illness,  on  December  9, 
1817,  in  his  53d  year. 

He  married  in  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  on  February 
7,  1791,  Melicent,  daughter  of  Josiah  Deming,  who  died  on 
October  23,  1853,  in  her  88th  year.  Five  of  their  eight 
children  survived  their  father.  One  son  was  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1813.  One  daughter  married  the  Hon.  Gerrit 
Smith  (Hamilton  Coll.  1818). 

He  published : 

1.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Chron.  xxxii,  33],  delivered  at  the  Funeral 
of    His    Excellency    Oliver    Wolcott,    Governor   of    the    State    of 
Connecticut;  who  died  ist  December,  1797.     Litchfield.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  A.  S.     B.  Ath.     Brit.  Mus.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     Y.  C. 

2.  Absalom's    Conspiracy: — a    Sermon    [from   2    Sam.    xv,    4], 
preached  at  the  General  Election,  at  Hartford  . .,  May  loth,  1798. 
Hartford,  1798.     8°,  pp.  54. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     Y.  C. 

The  same.     New  York,  1798.     8°,  pp.  54. 

[N.  Y.  H.  S.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 

3.  An  Inaugural  Discourse  [from  Phil,  iv,  13],  delivered  in  the 
village  of  Clinton,  December  3,  1812,  on  the  day  of  his  Induction 
into  the  office  of  President  of  Hamilton  College.     Utica,  1812.     8°, 
pp.  20. 

[Andover  Theol.  Sem.     B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus. 
Brown  Univ.     N.  Y.  H.  S.     R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.     Y.  C. 

4.  The  Importance  of  Ministerial  Fidelity,  illustrated  in  a  Dis- 
course  [from  Isaiah  Iviii,  i],  delivered  March  I7th,  1813,  at  the 
Ordination  of  the  Rev.  John  Frost  . .  in  Whitesborough.       Utica, 
1813.     8°,  pp.  23.  [Brown  Univ.     Y.  C. 


528  Yale  College 

5.  A  Sermon  [from  Matthew  x,  40-42],  delivered,  March  16, 
1814,  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  John  B.  Whittlesey  .  .  in 
Herkimer.  Herkimer,  1814.  8°,  pp.  19. 

[Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Y.  C. 

He  signed  as  Moderator  the  fallowing  publication,  but  it  is 
uncertain  whether  he  was  the  author: — 

An  Address  of  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  to  the 
Congregational  Ministers  and  Churches  of  the  State,  on  the 
importance  of  united  endeavors  to  revive  Gospel  Discipline.  Litch- 
field,  1808.  8°,  pp.  1 6. 

He  was  also  a  contributor  to  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Maga- 
zine. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,  field  County  Consociations,  1852,  86— 

24.    Gridley,  Hist,  of  Kirkland,  N.  Y.,  88.     Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer. 

126.      P.    Jones,    Annals    of    Oneida  Pulpit,  ii,  281-87.     Pres.   Stiles,  Lit- 

County,   195-98.     Kingsbury  Family,  erary    Diary,    iii,    97,    281.      Trow- 

217.     S.  K.  Lothrop,  Reminiscences,  bridge,  Hist.    Sermon  in  Bethlehem, 

25-26.    Perkins,  Old  Families  of  Nor-  11-14.      Woodward,  Hist,  of  Frank- 

wich,   i,    19.     Proceedings   of   Litch-  lin,  66-67. 


MATTHEW  BACKUS,  born  in  Norwich,  Connecticut,  on 
September  24,  1766,  was  admitted  to  the  Junior  Class  from 
Princeton  College  on  June  I,  1786.  He  was  the  youngest 
son  of  Captain  Elijah  Backus,  of  Norwich,  and  his  brother 
Elijah  was  graduated  here  in  1777. 

He  became  a  lawyer  and  is  said  to  have  settled  in 
Marietta,  Ohio. 

He  died,  by  his  own  hand,  in  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania, 
on  December  8,  1807,  in  his  42d  year. 

He  was  unmarried. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Backus  Family,   12,   119.     Perkins,       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  220. 
Old  Families  of  Norwich,  i,  16.    Pres. 


AUGUSTUS  BALDWIN,   the  youngest  child  of   Stephen 
Baldwin,  of  Guilford  and  Goshen,  Connecticut,  was  born 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  529 

on  August  27,  1764.  His  mother  was  Freelove,  daughter 
of  Daniel  and  Lois  (Cornwall)  Collins,  of  Guilford. 

After  graduation  he  taught  school  in  North  Guilford, 
and  also  took  up  the  study  of  law;  but  in  the  spring  of 
1789  his  first  cousin,  the  Hon.  Abraham  Baldwin  (Yale 
1772),  procured  a  place  for  him  in  Augusta,  Georgia, 
where  he  took  charge  of  an  Academy. 

He  remained  there  in  legal  practice,  and  married  in 
January,  1799,  widow  Rebecca  Cooke  (or  Cocke),  by 
whom  he  had  three  children. 

He  died  in  Augusta,  on  November  23,  1807,  in  his  44th 
year. 

AUTHORITIES. 
L.  Beether,  Autobiography,  i,  33.     Hibbard,  Hist,  of  Goshen,  408. 


HORACE  BEARDSLEY  was  the  eldest  surviving  son  of  Dr. 
Ebenezer  and  Martha  Beardsley,  of  Waterbury  and  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  John  and  Martha 
Beardsley,  of  Stratfield  Parish,  now  Bridgeport,  Con- 
necticut. 

His  father  was  a  prominent  physician  and  druggist 
in  New  Haven  from  1779  to  his  death  in  April,  1791. 

The  son  studied  medicine  after  graduation,  and  was 
admitted  to  membership  in  the  Medical  Society  of  New 
Haven  County  on  January  7,  1790,  and  probably  settled 
in  practice  in  Branford  in  that  County. 

After  his  father  died  he  carried  on  the  drug  business 
in  conjunction  with  his  next  elder  brother,  until  that 
brother's  death,  in  February,  1793. 

In  1795  he  removed  with  his  mother  and  sister  to  Cabot, 
in  Northern  Vermont. 

About  1815  he  returned  to  Connecticut,  and  died  in  or 
before  1820. 

AUTHORITIES. 

N.  H.  Colony  Hist.  Society's  Papers,  ii,  291. 
34 


53°  Yale  College 

JOSHUA  BELDEN,  Junior,  the  only  son  of  the  Rev.  Joshua 
Belden  (Yale  1743),  of  Newington,  then  a  parish  in 
Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Newington,  on 
March  29,  1768,  and  was  prepared  for  College  under  the 
tuition  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Perkins,  of  West  Hartford, 
Connecticut. 

On  leaving  College  he  began  the  study  of  divinity  with 
the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Smalley  (Yale  1756),  of  New  Britain, 
Connecticut ;  but  after  a  short  time  he  changed  his  plans, 
and  took  up  medical  studies  with  Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins, 
of  Hartford. 

When  he  was  prepared  for  practice,  by  his  father's 
desire  he  settled  in  his  native  village,  where  he  soon  gained 
the  entire  confidence  of  the  people  by  his  kindness  and 
sympathy  no  less  than  by  his  skill.  He  also  held  a  com- 
mission as  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

He  fell  a  victim  to  the  epidemic  called  spotted  fever, 
prematurely  and  suddenly,  on  June  6,  1808,  in  his  4ist 
year. 

He  married  on  January  9,  1797,  Dorothy,  younger 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Hannah  (Welles)  Whittlesey,  of 
Wethersfield,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons.  The  eldest  son 
was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1821,  the  second  in  1825, 
and  the  third  at  the  Yale  Medical  School  in  1829. 

Mrs.  Belden  died  in  Newington  on  September  10,  1846, 
in  her  77th  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Courant,  June  15,  1808.  Rus-      cal    Biography,     174-75.       Tillotson, 
sell,   Early  Medicine  in   Conn.,   103.      Wethersfield      Inscriptions,      167-68. 
Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethersfield,  i,  663;       Whittlesey  Genealogy,  70,  no. 
ii,  83,  86,  787.    Thacher,  Amer.  Medi- 


JOHN  BISHOP,  a  younger  brother  of  Abraham  Bishop 
(Yale  1778),  was  born  in  New  Haven  on  June  26,  1767. 
He  did  not  follow  either  of  the  professions,  but  engaged 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  531 

in  various  business  speculations,  which  were  mainly  unsuc- 
cessful. 

He  died  on  August  2,  1803,  five  days  before  his  father, 
in  his  37th  year. 

He  was  never  married. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Chapman,  Trowbridge  Family,  50.     Street  Genealogy,  44. 


ENDS  BLISS,  the  youngest  son  of  Ebenezer  Bliss,  of 
Longmeadow,  Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Ebenezer 
and  Joanna  (Lamb) 'Bliss,  was  born  in  Longmeadow,  on 
November  25,  1765.  His  mother  was  Abigail,  daughter 
of  Joseph  and  Mary  Cooley,  of  Somers,  Connecticut. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  and  preached  in 
various  towns  in  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont.  On 
January  18,  1792,  he  was  invited  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Brandon,  Rutland  County, 
Vermont,  where  he  was  ordained  and  installed  on  the  23d 
of  the  following  September.  He  was  dismissed  from  this 
charge  in  August,  1794,  and  after  an  interval  he  supplied 
the  church  in  New  Haven,  Addison  County,  for  about  two 
years. 

From  October,  1799,  to  July,  1803,  he  preached  in 
Orange  in  the  same  State.  Thence  he  went  to  Piermont, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  in  Grafton  County,  New 
Hampshire,  where  he  preached  (without  settlement) 
until  the  beginning  of  1806. 

Early  in  1807  he  removed  to  Black  River,  Jefferson 
County,  New  York.  He  died  in  Lorraine,  in  the  same 
county,  on  February  14,  1852,  in  his  87th  year. 

He  married,  on  February  10  (or  ji),  1793,  Abigail  (or 
Nabby),  youngest  daughter  of  Christopher  and  Mary 
(Giles)  Newton,  of  Newport,  New  Hampshire,  who  died 
on  March  22,  1800,  aged  25  years. 


532  Yale  College 

He  next  married,  on  March  n,  1801,  Betsey,  only 
daughter  of  David  and  Betsey  (Clement)  Breed,  of  Nor- 
wich, Connecticut,  who  died  on  January  18,  1829,  in  her 
5  ist  year. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  two  daughters  and  one  son, 
and  by  his  second  marriage  three  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bliss    Genealogy,    59.    97.      Breed       Geneal.  Register,  xxxii,  67, 175.     Pres. 
Family    Record,    No.    188.      Hemen-       Stiles,      Literary      Diary,      iii,      97. 
way,  Vt.  Hist.  Gazetteer,  ii,  957;  iii,        Wheeler,  Hist,   of   Newport,   N.   H., 
455,  404,  467.     Longmeadow  Centen-       482. 
nial,  pt.  2,  u,  13-14.     N.  E.  Hist,  and 


FRANCIS  BLOODGOOD,  son  of  James  Bloodgood,  a  merch- 
ant of  Albany,  New  York,  and  grandson  of  Francis  and 
Mary  (Doughty)  Bloodgood,  of  Flushing,  Long  Island, 
was  born  in  Albany  in  1769.  His  mother  was  Lydiar 
daughter  of  Jacobus  Van  Valkenburgh. 

After  graduation  he  settled  in  Albany  as  a  lawyer,  and 
was  for  many  years  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court.  From 
1798  to  1814  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of 
the  University  of  the  State.  In  politics  he  was  an  ardent 
Republican. 

He  was  held  in  the  highest  esteem  for  his  integrity, 
and  was  twice  elected  Mayor  of  the  City,  for  1831-32,  and 
for  1833-34.  He  was  also  at  the  time  of  his  death  Presi- 
dent of  the  State  Bank,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the 
founders. 

He  died  in  Albany  on  March  5,  1840,  aged  71  years. 

He  married  in  1792,  Eliza  (or  Elizabeth)  Cobham,  a 
ward  of  Governor  George  Clinton,  who  died  on  November 
13,  1818,  at  the  age  of  50. 

He  next  married  Anna,  widow  of  Robert  Morris, 
Junior,  of  Philadelphia. 

AUTHORITIES. 

American  Ancestry,  v,  235.     Mun-      301-02.     Worth,  Recollections  of  Al- 
sell,  Annals  of  Albany,  iii,   184 ;    x,       bany,  78-79. 


UNIVERSITY 

$&? 

tetches,  1787  533 

PUBLIUS  VIRGILIUS  BocuE,  the  youngest  child  of  the 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Booge  (Yale  1748),  of  Northington 
Society,  in  the  present  township  of  Avon,  Connecticut, 
was  born  on  March  30,  1764.  His  father  died  in  his 
infancy,  and  he  was  early  thrown  on  his  own  resources. 
After  laboring  for  a  short  time  upon  a  farm,  he  entered 
the  Revolutionary  army,  as  substitute  for  an  older  brother, 
and  was  stationed  at  West  Point  for  most  of  his  time  of 
service.  When  he  was  about  eighteen  he  became  a 
Christian,  and  with  difficulty  prepared  himself  to  enter 
College,  in  order  to  become  a  minister. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Springfield  (Massachusetts)  Association, 
at  Feeding  Hills.  He  supplied  for  a  time  the  First  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Granville,  in  the  same  vicinity, — 
his  eldest  brother  (Yale  1774)  being  pastor  of  the  Second 
Church  in  that  town.  He  next  supplied  the  pulpit  in 
Cornwall,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  and  went  thence 
to  Winchester,  in  the  same  County,  in  January,  1790. 

After  preaching  there  on  probation  for  some  months, 
the  town  gave  him  a  call  to  the  pastorate  in  September, 
which  was  seconded  by  the  Church  in  November.  After 
more  than  the  usual  discussion  over  the  terms  of  settle- 
ment, an  agreement  was  finally  arrived  at,  and  the  ordina- 
tion took  place  on  January  26,  1791. 

Not  far  from  this  date  he  married  Catharine,  daughter 
of  Colonel  Timothy  Robinson,  of  Granville. 

Mr.  Bogue  was  a  man  of  good  personal  appearance  and 
address,  and  an  able  and  useful  preacher.  After  nine 
years'  service  he  requested  a  dismission,  on  account  of  the 
failure  of  his  health  and  a  strong  conviction  that  it  was 
necessary  to  remove  to  a  new  country.  His  dismission 
took  place  on  March  20,  1800,  much  to  the  sorrow  of  his 
people  and  to  his  own  lasting  regret. 

He  then  took  part  with  other  emigrants  from  the  same 
vicinity  in  the  settlement  of  Vernon,  in  Oneida  County, 


534  Yale  College 

New  York;  and  after  preaching  there  and  elsewhere  in 
that  county  as  his  health  would  permit  for  about  two 
years,  he  settled  in  Georgia,  in  northwestern  Vermont, 
where  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  April,  1803,  and  was  installed  on  October  8. 
He  was  dismissed  from  this  charge  on  October  20,  1813, 
and  was  next  installed,  on  March  15,  1815,  as  pastor  of 
a  Union  Society  in  Paris,  Oneida  County,  New  York,  and 
was  happily  and  successfully  engaged  there  until  his 
prospect  of  future  usefulness  was  destroyed  by  difficulties 
fomented  by  an  outside  evangelist  among  his  people.  He 
was  accordingly  dismissed  on  February  7,  1826,  and  later 
he  made  his  home  in  Clinton  in  the  same  county,  where  he 
died  suddenly  on  August  28,  1836,  in  his  73d  year.  His 
wife  died  on  March  30,  1836,  aged  70  years. 

Their  children,  born  in  Winchester,  were  three  sons  and 
two  daughters. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Boyd,  Hist,  of  Winchester,  182-  P.  Jones,  Annals  of  Oneida  County, 
84,  187-88,  21.2-13,  537-38.  Hemen-  298,  637,  645.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
way,  Vt.  Hist.  Gazetteer,  ii,  248-49.  Diary,  iii,  97. 


ELI  BULLARD,  the  fourth  son  and  child  of  Henry  Bui- 
lard,  of  Medway,  Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  John 
and  Abigail  (Leland)  Bullard,  was  born  in  Medway  on 
November  16,  1758.  His  mother  was  Jemima  Pond,  of 
Wrentham,  Massachusetts. 

He  resided  at  College  most  of  the  time  for  three  years 
after  graduation,  and  during  the  last  two  years  was  Col- 
lege Butler. 

He  then  returned  to  the  vicinity  of  his  birthplace,  and 
in  1791  opened  a  law  office  in  Framingham,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  was  also  Preceptor  of  the  Academy  from  1795 
to  1798.  He  practiced  law  there  until  his  death.  From 
1807  to  1814  he  was  town-clerk. 

He  married,  on  May  20,  1794,  Ruth,  third  daughter  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  535 

Major  Lawson  and  Mary  (Jones)  Buckminster,  of  Fram- 
ingham,  who  was  born  on  September  17,  1776. 

He  died  in  Framingham  on  May  21,  1824,  aged  65^2 
years. 

He  had  three  daughters  and  two  sons. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Barry,  Hist,  of  Framingham,  202-      399.     Temple,  Hist,  of  Framingham, 
03.    Jameson,  Hist,  of  Medway,  457.       340,  344,  351,  418,  420,  491-92. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  360, 


HUGO  BURGH ARDT  was  born  in  1770  in  Great  Barring- 
ton,  Massachusetts,  to  which  place  his  great  grandparents, 
Conrad  and  Geesie  (Van  Wye)  Burghardt,  removed  from 
Kinderhook,  New  York,  about  1732.  While  at  home  on 
account  of  illness  in  his  Senior  year,  he  was  wounded  by 
the  insurgents  in  the  Shays  rebellion  in  their  raid  upon 
Stockbridge. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Erastus 
Sergeant  (honorary  M.A.  Yale  1784),  of  Stockbridge, 
and  in  1790  began  practice  in  Richmond,  a  neighboring 
town,  where  he  continued,  highly  esteemed,  for  about 
thirty  years.  The  honorary  degree  of  M.D.  was  given 
him  by  Harvard  University  in  1818. 

He  died  in  Richmond,  on  October  18,  1822,  aged  52 
years. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Field,  Hist,  of  Berkshire  County,      ton,  311-12. 
332.    Taylor,  Hist,  of  Great  Barring- 


JOSEPH  ELEAZAR  CAMP,  son  of  David  Camp,  of  Durham 
and  Bethlehem,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Eleazar  and 
Mary  (Botsford)  Camp,  of  Durham,  was  born  in  Bethle- 
hem on  April  6,  1766.  His  mother  was  Margery,  eldest 
child  of  Nathaniel  and  Margery  (Morgan)  Johnson,  of 
Guilford,  Connecticut. 


536  Yale  College 

After  graduation  he  begun  the  study  of  theology,  and 
completed  it  in  1789  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Smalley  (Yale 
1756),  of  New  Britain,  Connecticut.  He  united  with  the 
church  of  which  Dr.  Smalley  was  pastor,  on  profession 
of  faith  in  August,  1789,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Hartford  South  Association  of  Ministers,  on  October  6. 

After  supplying  churches  in  East  Guilford  and  else- 
where, he  was  called,  on  November  4,  1794,  to  the  newly 
formed  Northfield  Society,  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  with 
an  annual  salary  of  £85.  A  church  of  fourteen  members 
was  organized  on  January  i,  1795,  and  Mr.  Camp  was 
ordained  pastor  on  February  12.  In  his  old  age  his  people 
wearied  of  him,  and  he  was  accordingly  dismissed  on  June 
27,  1837,  and  died  in  Litchfield  on  May  27,  1838,  in  his 
73d  year. 

One  hundred  and  seventy-five  members  were  added  to 
the  church  during  the  forty-two  years  of  his  ministry. 

He  married  on  December  3,  1795,  Rhoda,  daughter 
of  Titus  and  Sarah  (Blakesley)  Turner,  who  were  among 
the  earliest  settlers  of  Northfield,  from  North  Haven, 
Connecticut. 

Their  children  were  six  sons  and  one  daughter.  The 
eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1822,  and  followed 
his  father's  profession. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,  Churches  of  Mattatuck,       124.     Tuttle  Family,  64.      Woodruff, 
148-51.     Andrews,   New   Britain,  80,       Litchfield  Geneal.   Register,  49. 
207-08.     Fowler,   Hist,   of   Durham, 


SILAS  CHURCHILL,  the  youngest  child  of  Captain 
Charles  Churchill,  of  Newington  Parish,  in  Wethers- 
field,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Samuel  and  Martha 
(Boardman)  Churchill,  of  Newington,  was  born  on  April 
5,  and  baptized  on  April  16,  1769.  His  mother  was  Lydia, 
daughter  of  Josiah  and  Mabel  (Wright)  Belden,  of  Rocky 
Hill.  :.  ' 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  537 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  his  pastor, 
the  Rev.  Joshua  Belden  (Yale  1743),  who  was  his  mother's 
second  cousin,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hartford 
South  Association  of  Ministers  in  February,  1790. 

On  December  14,  1792,  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate 
of  the  Congregational  Church  in  East  Granville,  Massa- 
chusetts, but  declined.  He  was  ordained  and  installed  in 
1795  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  Lebanon, 
then  part  of  Canaan,  Columbia  County,  New  York,  where 
he  continued  in  office  for  forty-two  years. 

He  died  in  New  Lebanon  on  March  I,  1854,  aged  nearly 
85  years. 

He  married  in  Newington,  on  October  12,  1797,  Rhoda 
Belden,  daughter  of  his  pastor  and  theological  teacher. 
She  was  nearly  three  years  his  senior  in  age. 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  The 
youngest  son  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1830, 
and  the  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Edwards  A.  Beach 
(Amherst  College  1824). 

He  published : 

Salvation  by  Grace. — A  Sermon  [from  Eph.  ii,  5],  delivered  at 
Windham,  in  the  County  of  Greene,  before  the  Northern  Associated 
Presbytery  of  the  State  of  New- York,  on  the  fifth  day  of  June, 
A.  D.  1805.  Pittsfield,  1805.  12°,  pp.  23.  [Y.  C. 

He  contributed  to  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine  for 
November,  1803  (vol.  4,  pp.  179-89),  a  narrative  of  a  recent 
Revival  of  Religion  in  Lebanon. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Stiles,    Hist,    of    Wethersfield,    ii,       ington,  93-94,   112. 
225,  228.     Welles,  Annals   of   New- 


DANIEL  COOK  came  to  College  from  Torrington,  Con- 
necticut. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  engaged  in  teaching  for  four  or 
five  years  after  graduation;  and  subsequently  settled  in 
Pennsylvania  as  a  merchant. 


538  Yale  College 

He  is  believed  to  have  died  about  1804,  but  his  name  was 
not  starred  in  the  Triennial  Catalogue  until  1817. 


JOSHUA  DEWEY,  the  third  son  and  fifth  child  of  Captain 
Daniel  Dewey,  a  farmer  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  John  and  Experience  (Woodward)  Dewey, 
of  Lebanon,  was  born  in  that  town  on  April  7,  1767.  His 
mother  was  Temperance,  eldest  child  of  Isaac  and  Abigail 
(Hunt)  Bailey,  of  Lebanon. 

He  was  prepared  for  College  in  his  native  town  by  the 
famous  local  teacher,  "Master  Tisdale"  (Harvard  Coll. 
1749).  After  the  burning  of  New  London  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, he  became  for  a  time  one  of  the  garrison  of  Fort 
Griswold,  as  a  substitute  for  an  elder  brother. 

In  the  early  part  of  his  Senior  year,  or  in  the  preceding 
vacation,  he  contracted  a  marriage  with  Lora,  eldest 
daughter  of  Israel  and  Rebecca  (Bingham)  Loomis,  of 
Lebanon ;  and  when  this  became  known  he  was  obliged  (in 
February,  1787)  to  take  a  dismission  from  College.  His 
degree  was  granted  him  in  1789. 

He  remained  in  Lebanon  until  1791,  when  he  removed 
to  Cooperstown,  New  York,  and  taught  for  two  years  the 
first  school  ever  opened  in  that  town,  in  which  James 
Fenimore  Cooper  learned  his  alphabet.  In  1793  he  settled 
on  a  farm  in  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 

He  was  one  of  the  Representatives  of  Otsego  County 
in  the  State  Assembly  during  two  sessions  (1798-99),  and 
subsequently  received  a  commission  from  President  Adams 
as  Collector  of  Internal  Revenue. 

In  1809  he  removed  to  the  new  town  of  DeKalb,  in  St. 
Lawrence  County,  where  he  also  served  in  various  public 
offices,  being  a  supervisor  of  the  town,  a  county  magis- 
trate, and  a  commissioner  of  schools.  In  the  war  of  1812, 
he  joined  the  militia  for  a  brief  period  in  the  defence  of 
Ogdensburg.  In  1817  he  became  a  religious  man,  and 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  539 

with  his  wife  and  four  of  his  children  united  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

In  1830  he  removed  to  Watertown,  in  Jefferson  County, 
to  engage  in  trade,  and  thence  to  Sacket  Harbor,  *a  few 
miles  westwards,  and  thence  again  to  Auburn,  in  Cayuga 
County. 

In  his  later  years  he  resided  with  his  youngest  son  in 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  with  a  daughter  in  Watertown. 
His  mind  was  clear  and  his  health  generally  good  to  the 
last. 

He  died  in  Watertown,  on  February  24,  1864,  aged 
nearly  97  years.  For  five  years  (since  the  death  of 
Newell,  of  the  previous  Class)  he  had  been  the  oldest 
graduate  of  the  College  in  academic  standing. 

His  wife  died  at  Sacket  Harbor  on  October  31,  1840, 
in  her  ?2d  year. 

Their  children  were  six  sons  and  six  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dewey     Genealogy,     411,     437-38.       more,    Hist,    of    Cooperstown,    108. 
Hunt    Genealogy,    177,    225.      Liver-       Yale  Obituary  Record,  i,  117-18. 


EBENEZER  DUTTON,  the  sixth  son  and  child  of  Captain 
and  Deacon  Ebenezer  Button,  a  country  merchant  of 
East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Deacon 
Samuel  and  Rachel  (Cone)  Dutton,  was  baptized  in  Mil- 
lington  Parish  in  East  Haddam  on  October  23,  1768. 
His  mother  was  Phebe  Beebe,  of  East  Haddam. 

The  family  removed  to  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  in  the 
year  of  his  graduation.  A  younger  brother  was  gradu- 
ated here  in  1797. 

He  studied  law,  and  is  said  to  have  settled  early  in 
Cazenovia,  Madison  County,  New  York,  but  is  not  now 
traceable  there. 

He  is  reported  to  have  died  in  1815,  aged  47  years; 


54°  Yale  College 

but  his  name  was  not  starred  in  the  Triennial  Catalogues 
until  1823. 


CHRISTOPHER  ELLERY,  second  son  of  Judge  Christopher 
Ellery,  an  eminent  merchant  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island, 
and  grandson  of  Deputy  Governor  William  Ellery  (Har- 
vard Coll.  1722)  and  Elizabeth  (Almy)  Ellery,  of  New- 
port, was  born  on  November  i,  1768.  His  mother  was 
Mary,  third  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Amy  (Ward) 
Vernon,  of  Newport. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  entered  on 
practice  in  Newport.  He  served  as  Clerk  of  the  Superior 
Court  for  the  County  from  1794  to  1798. 

He  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  as  a 
Democrat,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of 
the  Hon.  Ray  Greene  (Yale  1784) ;  and  served  from 
December,  1801,  to  March,  1805. 

A  glimpse  of  his  partisan  activity  is  afforded  by  a 
vituperative  pamphlet  printed  in  1803  by  the  Hon.  John 
Rutledge,  a  Member  of  Congress  from  South  Carolina, 
with  the  title : — -A  Defence  against  Calumny ;  or,  Haman, 
in  the  shape  of  Christopher  Ellery,  Esq.  hung  upon  his  own 
gallows.  .  . 

In  1806  President  Jefferson  appointed  him  Commis- 
sioner of  Loans  at  Providence. 

From  1820  until  1834,  when  the  failure  of  his  health 
caused  him  to  resign,  he  was  Collector  of  Customs  at 
Newport. 

He  died  at  his  residence  in  Middletown,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Newport,  on  December  2,  1840,  in  his  73d  year. 

He  married,  on  October  22,  1792,  Clarissa  Bird,  and  had 
by  her  a  large  family. 


AUTHORITIES. 

N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,       132-33.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 
xxxiii,  316.     R.  I.  Hist.  Tracts,  xiii,       in,  95. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  541 

WILLIAM  ELY,  youngest  son  of  Deacon  Nathaniel  Ely, 
of  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts,  by  his  second  wife, 
Abigail,  daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (Merrick)  Colton, 
was  born  on  August  14,  1765.  A  half-brother  was  gradu- 
ated here  in  1772. 

He  studied  law  and  engaged  in  its  practice  with  success 
in  Springfield,  Massachusetts. 

He  represented  Springfield  in  the  State  Legislature  in 
1801,  1802,  and  1803,  and  was  a  Federalist  member  of 
Congress  from  December,  1805,  to  March,  1815.  He 
advocated,  in  December,  1806,  the  death-penalty  for 
importers  of  slaves,  and  otherwise  notably  opposed  the 
Southern  sentiment  of  that  period.  He  was  again  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  House  in  1814  and  1816. 

He  died  in  Springfield  on  October  9,  1817,  in  his  53d 
year. 

He  married,  about  the  ist  of  November,  1803,  Abigail, 
second  daughter  of  Judge  Moses  Bliss  (Yale  1755),  of 
Springfield,  who  survived  him  without  children. 

She  died  in  Springfield  on  October  7,  1827,  aged  nearly 

59 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bliss  Family  Genealogy,  87.  De-  Longmeadow  Centennial,  311  ;  appen- 
scendants  of  Nathaniel  Ely,  23.  dix,  60.  N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Reg- 
Green,  Hist,  of  Springfield,  368.  ister,  xxxv,  238. 


WILLIAM  ELY,  youngest  son  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Ely 
(Yale  1754),  was  born  in  North  Madison,  Connecticut,  on 
January  10,  1767.  At  the  beginning  of  his  Junior  year  in 
College  his  father  removed  to  the  village  of  Centerbrook, 
in  Essex,  Connecticut. 

After  graduation  he  followed  his  brother  (Yale  1785) 
in  the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  John  Noyes,  of  Lyme, 
Connecticut;  but  when  the  time  came  for  engaging  in 


542  Yale  College 

practice,  he  decided  to  enter  instead  a  commercial  life. 
In  developing  his  purpose  he  acquired  the  means  to  build 
a  ship  of  the  largest  class  then  employed,  and  sailed  in  her 
in  several  voyages  to  the  East  Indies  as  owner  and  super- 
cargo. He  was  successful  in  his  various  enterprises ;  and 
having  acquired  a  handsome  fortune  he  retired  about  1810 
in  a  great  degree  from  active  business,  and  settled  in 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  where  he  married,  on  July  4,  1811, 
Clarissa  May,  daughter  of  the  late  Major  Robert  Davis, 
of  Boston,  whose  widow,  Mrs.  Mary  (Farrington)  Davis, 
had  removed  to  Hartford. 

In  1817  the  American  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
was  founded  at  Hartford,  in  which  Mr.  Ely  was  deeply 
interested.  He  was  one  of  the  first  Board  of  Directors, 
in  which  office  he  continued  until  1826,  when  he  was  elected 
to  a  Vice  Presidency,  from  which  he  retired  in  1842.  For 
several  years  he  was  engaged  in  securing  the  valuable 
grant  of  land  from  Congress  to  that  Institution,  and  in 
1828  he  was  appointed  the  first  Commissioner  of  the  fund 
which  he  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  establishing. 
He  resigned  this  office  in  1839,  on  account  of  advancing 
years. 

He  died  in  Hartford,  after  a  brief  illness,  on  February 
21,  1847,  in  the  8ist  year  of  his  age.  His  widow  died  in 
Hartford  on  May  7,  1882,  in  her  gist  year. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  three  sons. 
The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1836,  and  still 
survives. 

Mr.  Ely  was  a  man  of  handsome  and  commanding 
person,  and  of  accomplished  and  elegant  manners.  A 
portrait,  painted  in  Holland,  is  engraved  in  the  Ely 
Ancestry,  and  in  the  Memorial  History  of  Hartford 
County. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight,    Strong    Family    ii,    1128.       union,  113-20.      Trumbull,  Memorial 
Ely  Ancestry,  101,  187-90.    Ely  Re-      Hist,  of  Hartford  County,  i,  427,  664. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  543 

NICHOLAS  EVERTSON,  son  of  Jacob  Evertson,  came  to 
College  in  April  of  Freshman  year,  f rom.Amenia,  Duchess 
County,  New  York.  He  united  with  the  College  Church 
on  profession  of  faith  in  July  of  his  Freshman  year.  At 
graduation  he  delivered  the  Latin  Salutatory  Oration. 

On  leaving  College  he  studied  law,  and  established  him- 
self in  practice  in  New  York  City,  where  he  had  a  brilliant 
if  brief  career.  -  He  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly  in  one 
session  (1800). 

He  died  at  his  father's  seat  in  Pleasant  Valley,  then 
included  in  the  township  of  Clinton,  in  Duchess  County, 
after  a  severe  illness  of  three  weeks,  on  April  18,  1807, 
in  his  42d  year.  His  wife  Eliza  survived  him,  with  one 
son  and  two  daughters. 

A  granddaughter  married  Dr.  George  H.  Moore  (Univ. 
N.  Y.  1843),  late  Superintendent  of  the  Lenox  Library, 
New  York  City. 

AUTHORITIES. 
N.  Y.  Spectator,  April  22,  1807.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  129,  281. 


JOSEPH  FOOT,  the  only  son  of  Dr.  Jared  and  Submit 
(Bishop)  Foot,  of  Northford  Society,  in  Branford,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Dr.  Ichabod  and  Hannah 
(Harrison)  Foot,  of  Northford,  was  born  in  Northford 
on  May  12,  1770.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by  the 
Rev.  Thomas  W.  Bray  (Yale  1765),  of  North  Guilford. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Jared 
Potter  (Yale  1760),  of  Wallingford,  Connecticut,  and  in 
1790  established  himself  in  North  Haven,  Connecticut, 
where  by  his  winning  manners,  his  professional  skill,  and 
his  devotion  to  his  calling  he  acquired  a  large  practice  and 
became  greatly  beloved.  The  honorary  degree  of  M.D. 
was  given  him  by  the  College  in  1816. 


544  Yale  College 

He  married  on  February  16,  1797,  Mary  Bassett,  the 
only  child  of  a  well-to-do  farmer  of  Hamden,  Connecticut. 
She  died  on  September  3,  1801,  in  her  24th  year;  and  he 
next  married,  on  January  26,  1803,  ms  second  cousin, 
Eunice,  youngest  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Anna  (Harri- 
son) Foot,  of  Northford.  She  died  on  November  12, 
1833,  in  her  57th  year. 

Dr.  Foot  died  in  North  Haven,  after  one  week's  illness, 
on  April  24,  1836,  aged  nearly  66  years. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  one  daughter,  and  one  son  who 
was  graduated  from  Yale  in  1820. 

By  his  second  wife  he  had  three  daughters  and  one 
son.  The  latter  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1832,  and  of 
the  former  the  eldest  married  the  Rev.  Abraham  C.  Bald- 
win (Bowdoin  Coll.  1827),  the  second  married  the  Rev. 
William  Wolcott  (Yale  1828),  and  the  youngest  married 
his  classmate,  the  Rev.  Orson  Cowles. 

His  tombstone  bears  the  appropriate  inscription — An 
Eminent  Christian  Physician.  The  Address  delivered  at 
his  funeral  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Leverett  Griggs, 
was  afterwards  published. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Goodwin,    Foote    Family,    197-98,       Dr.  Foot's  Funeral.     Thorpe,  North 
231-32,   320-21.     Griggs,   Address   at       Haven  Annals,  319-20. 


EBENEZER  GAY,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ebenezer 
Gay  (Harvard  Coll.  1737),  of  Sufneld,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Lusher  and  Mary  (Ellis)  Gay,  of  Dedham, 
Massachusetts,  was  born  in  Suffield  on  March  10,  1766. 
His  mother  was  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  John  Gush- 
ing (Harvard  Coll.  1729)  and  Mary  (Cotton)  Gushing, 
of  Scituate,  Massachusetts.  A  brother  was  graduated 
here  in  1789. 

He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1783,  but  at  the  end  of 
the  Freshman  year  transferred  his  membership  to  Yale. 


Biographical  Sketches,  i?8j  545 

After  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  theology,  and 
while  thus  engaged,  was  elected,  in  September,  1790,  to 
a  Tutorship  at  Yale.  He  entered  on  the  office  with  the 
opening  of  the  College  year,  in  October,  and  while  here 
continued  his  theological  studies  under  the  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Dana,  of  New  Haven.  He  was  admitted  to  membership 
in  the  College  Church,  on  profession  of  faith,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1790,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in  the  ensuing 
summer. 

He  resigned  the  tutorship  at  Commencement  in  1792, 
and  about  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  he  accepted 
a  call  to  settle  as  colleague  with  his  father,  who  was  then 
in  his  75th  year.  He  was  ordained  on  March  6,  1793,  and 
the  ordination  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dana  was  subse- 
quently published. 

•  The  senior  pastor  died  in  March,  1796,  and  Mr.  Gay 
continued  to  perform  his  work  unaided  until  December, 
1826,  when  he  was  in  his  6ist  year,  and  a  colleague  was 
settled. 

He  died  in  office  in  Suffield,  on  January  I,  1837,  m  n^s 
7  ist  year. 

He  married,  on  May  15,  1799,  Bathshua  Pynchon,  of 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  a  sister  of  Stephen  Pynchon 
(Yale  1789),  who  died  on  April  5,  1845,  m  ner  73^  year. 

Their  children  were  two  daughters,  and  a  son  who  died 
in  infancy.  The  elder  daughter  married  one  of  her 
father's  colleagues,  the  Rev.  Henry  Robinson  (Yale  1811). 

Mr.  Gay  was  in  his  youth  a  popular  preacher,  and 
prepared  many  young  men  for  College  and  for  business. 
Those  who  were  associated  with  him  describe  him  as  a 
man  of  genial  spirit,  eminently  given  to  hospitality,  and 
full  of  sympathy  for  the  distressed.  His  theology  was 
of  the  liberal  type. 

He  published: 

1.  An  Oration  on  American  Independence,  July  5,  1790. 

2.  An  Oration,  pronounced  at  Suffield,  on  Saturday,  the  22d  of 

35 


546  Yale  College 

Feb.  A.  D.  1800,  the  Day  recommended  by  Congress,  for  the  People 
to  assemble,  publicly  to  testify  their  Grief,  for  the  Death  of  General 
George  Washington.  Suffield,  1800.  8°,  pp.  16. 

[N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

3.  The  good  Minister  of  Jesus  Christ. — A  Sermon  [from  I  Tim. 
iv,  6],  preached  in  Berlin,  New-Britain  Society,  February  I4th, 
1810,  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Newton  Skinner  .  .  Hartford. 
8°,  pp.  19.  [Brown  Univ.  C.  H.  S.  Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Longmeadow  Centennial,  Appendix,  B.  Ruggles,  77-79.  Sprague,  Annals 
80.  N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Regis-  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  i,  537.  Pres. 
ter,  xxxiii,  51,  54.  Proceedings  on  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  402,  404, 
i5oth  Anniversary  of  decease  of  Rev.  406,  475,  485,  487. 


GIDEON  GRANGER,  the  younger  son  of  Gideon  Granger 
(Yale  1760),  of  Suffield,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Suffield 
on  July  19,  1767.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by  his 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gay,  whose  son  has  just  been  noticed. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  on  his  admission 
to  the  bar  in  1789  took  up  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
his  native  village.  He  married  on  June  14,  1790,  Mind- 
well,  only  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mindwell  (King)  Pease, 
of  Suffield. 

He  very  early  entered  on  a  political  career,  being  chosen 
a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  in  May,  1792,  before 
he  was  25  years  old,  and  retaining  his  seat  in  all  but  two 
sessions  until  his  removal  from  the  State  in  1801.  One 
chief  achievement  of  this  service  was  his  activity  in  draft- 
ing and  securing  the  passage  of  the  Common  School  Law 
of  the  State. 

He  was  originally  a  Federalist  in  politics;  but  in  1797 
or  1798  became  a  convert  to  the  opposite  side,  with  a  con- 
vert's usual  zeal.  In  the  bitter  Presidential  contest  of 
1800  he  was  active  in  pressing  the  claims  of  Jefferson  as 
against  Burr,  and  thus  attracted  the  favorable  notice  of 
the  new  President,  who  offered  him  in  October,  1801,  the 
office  of  Postmaster-General  of  the  United  States. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  547 

He  accepted  the  offer,  and  retained  the  office  until 
March,  1814,  when  he  was  dismissed  by  President  Madi- 
son for  his  use  of  patronage  in  opposition  to  the  demands 
of  members  of  Congress.  Jefferson  had  thought  seriously 
of  nominating  him  for  the  Supreme  Court  in  1810. 

On  his  return  to  Connecticut  he  removed  with  his 
family  to  Whitestown,  now  Whitesboro,  Oneida  County, 
New  York,  having  charge  of  the  legal  details  of  the  Phelps 
and  Gorham  purchase,  which  embraced  much  of  the 
western  part  of  the  State;  but  being  obliged  by  business 
affairs  to  spend  some  time  in  Canandaigua,  Ontario 
County,  he  was  so  charmed  with  the  beauty  of  the  location 
that  he  began  to  built  a  handsome  dwelling  there  in  1816, 
and  in  1817  made  it  his  permanent  home. 

Although  in  poor  health,  he  took  at  once  an  interest  in 
New  York  politics,  and  especially  in  the  project  of  his 
intimate  friend,  DeWitt  Clinton,  for  a  canal  across  the 
State.  He  accepted  an  election  to  the  State  Senate  for 
two  sessions  (1820-21),  for  the  purpose  of  furthering  this 
plan. 

He  had,  however,  been  for  many  years  a  great  sufferer 
from  gout,  and  finally  this  disease  attacked  him  in  the 
stomach  with  such  severity  that  his  death,  after  nearly 
six  months  of  excruciating  suffering,  ensued,  at  Canan- 
daigua, on  December  31,  1822,  in  his  56th  year. 

His  widow  died  in  Canandaigua,  on  April  17,  1860, 
in  her  QOth  year. 

Their  children  were  three  sons,  all  of  whom  lived  to 
maturity.  The  eldest  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1810. 

His  miniature  is  reproduced  in  the  Granger  Genealogy. 

He  published : 

i.  An  Oration,  spoken  on  Tuesday,  the  Fourth  of  July,  1797,  at 
the  East  Meeting-House  in  Suffield  .  .     Suffield,  1797.    8°,  pp.  24. 
[A.  A.  S.    Brit.  Mus.     C.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 
Y.  C.,  incomplete. 


548  Yale  College 

2.  A  Vindication  of  the  Measures  of  the  Present  Administra- 
tion.— By  Algernon  Sidney.     Washington,  1803.     8°,  pp.  20. 

[B.  Publ.     Harv.     U.  S. 

Six  or  more  editions  of  this  anonymous  production  (originally 
contributed  to  the  National  Intelligencer)  were  published  in 
different  places. 

3.  A  Vindication  of  the  Rights  of  the  New  England  Mississippi 
Land  Company,  by  the  Agents  of  said  Company.     City  of  Wash- 
ington, 1804.     8°,  pp.  109.  [B.  Publ.     U.  S.,  incomplete. 

4.  An  Address,  to  the  People  of  New-England.     [Signed,  Alger- 
non Sidney.]     [1808.]     8°,  pp.  36.  [B.  Publ. 

Of  this  pamphlet  four  or  five  editions  were  published  in  various 
places ;  it  is  a  defence  of  Jefferson's  administration. 

5.  Speech  delivered  before  a  Convention  of  the  People  of  Ontario 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  8,  1817,  on  the  Subject  of  a  Canal  from  Lake  Erie 
to  Hudson's  River.     Canandaigua.     8°,  pp.  24.  [B.  Publ. 

6.  The  Address  of  Epaminondas  to  the  Citizens  of  the  State  of 
New-York.     Albany,  1819.     8°,  pp.  51.  [B.  Ath.     U.S. 

An  anonymous  plea  for  the  re-election  of  Governor  DeWitt 
Clinton.  Another  edition  appeared  in  1820  (28  pp.). 

7.  Address,  delivered  before  the  Ontario  Agricultural  Society,  at 
its  Second  Annual  Meeting,  October  3,  1820,  by  the  Hon.  Gideon 
Granger,  President  of  said  Society.     Canandaigua.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[B.  Publ.     N.  Y.  H.  S. 

Advocating  the  maintenance  of  the  three  great  interests  of  agri- 
culture, manufactures,  and  commerce. 

8.  Mr.    Granger's    Reasons    for    voting    against    the    grant    of 
$11,870.50  to  Governor  Tompkins.     Albany,  1820.     8°,  pp.  12. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.     N.  Y.  State  Library.     U.  S. 

A  plea  for  justice  to  be  done  in  this  case,  and  a  disclaimer  of  any 
desire  to  ruin  the  ex-governor. 

9.  Debate,  in  the  Senate  of  New- York,  on  Mr.  Granger's  Motion, 
of  the  3d  of  March,  to  amend  the  6th  Section  of  the  Convention  Bill, 
by  increasing  the  number  of  Delegates  to  165  ...     Together  with 
Mr.  Granger's  Address,  to  the  Conventions  of  the  two  Republican 
Parties  in  the  Western  District.     [Reported]  By  M.  T.  C.  Gould. 

,  Albany,  1821.     8°,  pp.  39.  [B.  Publ.     U.  S. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  549 

This  pamphlet  consists  mainly  of  Mr.  Granger's  Speeches  and 
Address. 

His  annual  Reports  and  other  official  utterances  as  Postmaster- 
General  are  also  in  print. 


AUTHORITIES. 

H.  Adams,  Hist,  of  U.  S.,  vii,  399-  ix,  283,  454-58.  Pease  Record,  25. 
401.  Granger  Genealogy,  107,  177-82.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  198, 
Howe,  Hist.  Collections  of  N.  Y.,  545.  Trumbull,  Memorial  Hist,  of 
407-08.  Jefferson,  Writings,  ed.  Ford,  Hartford  County,  i,  124;  ii,  411-12. 


GAYLORD  GRISWOLD,  the  fourth  son  and  fifth  child  of 
Captain  Silvanus  Griswold,  of  Windsor,  Connecticut,  one 
of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  men  in  Hartford 
County,  and  grandson  of  Captain  Benjamin  and  Esther 
(Gaylord)  Griswold,  of  Windsor,  was  born  on  December 
20,  1767.  His  mother  was  Mary  Collins,  of  Wallingford, 
Connecticut. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1790.  In  1792  he  emigrated  to  Central  New 
York  in  company  with  Thomas  R.  Gold,  of  the  preceding 
Class. 

Mr.  Griswold  settled  in  Herkimer,  and  as  a  man  of  rare 
endowments  and  great  energy  of  character,  became  one  of 
the  leading  citizens  in  that  place.  He  married  on  August 
3,  1796,  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Horace  and  Elizabeth 
(Filer)  Hooker,  of  Herkimer. 

He  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  State  Assembly 
from  Herkimer  County  in  two  sessions,  1796-98;  and  was 
elected  a  Federalist  member  of  the  United  States  House  of 
Representatives  for  the  Eighth  Congress,  from  October, 
1803,  to  March,  1805. 

He  died  in  Herkimer,  on  March  I,  1809,  in  his  42d  year. 
His  wife  died  there  on  August  2,  1844,  in  her  73d  year. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  two  sons. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Benton,  Hist,  of  Herkimer  County,       of    Herkimer    County,    139.      Stiles, 
314-16.     Hardin  and   Willard,   Hist.       Hist,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  358,  360. 


55°  Yale  College 

JOSHUA  HATHAWAY  was  born  in  Suffield,  Connecticut, 
on  August  13,  1761,  the  son  of  Simeon  Hathaway,  and 
nephew  of  Shadrach  Hathaway  (Yale  1738).  His  father 
later  removed  to  Bennington,  Vermont,  and  was  engaged 
in  the  battle  of  Bennington,  in  August,  1777,  with  seven 
sons,  of  whom  the  graduate  was  one.  Joshua  Hathaway 
was  admitted  to  College  in  February  of  the  Freshman 
year,  and  united  with  the  College  Church  on  profession  of 
faith  in  January  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

Upon  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  after  settling  in 
practice  in  Bennington,  married  on  February  19,  1791, 
Elizabeth,  third  daughter  of  John  Haynes  Lord  (Yale 
1745),  of  Hartford,  Connecticut. 

In  1795  he  removed  to  Fort  Stanwix,  now  Rome,  New 
York,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Herkimer  County. 
When  Oneida  County  was  organized,  in  1798,  he  was 
given  a  commission  as  Justice  of  the  Peace,  which  he  held 
for  some  thirty  years.  He  was  also  appointed  the  first 
County  Treasurer,  and  held  that  office  until  1802.  He 
held  many  other  local  offices  of  trust,  and  was  the  first 
Master  of  the  first  Lodge  of  Masons  in  Rome  in  1800. 

He  was  at  first  actively  associated  with  the  Federalists 
•in  politics ;  but  became  dissatisfied  with  the  policy  of  that 
party  in  the  presidential  contest  of  1800,  and  acted  there- 
after with  the  Democrats. 

About  1810  he  was  appointed  by  President  Madison 
Postmaster  of  Rome,  and  he  retained  that  place  until  1833, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  dignity  with  which  he  clothed 
his  office,  it  is  narrated  that  whenever  the  mails  arrived 
for  distribution,  he  commanded  silence  on  the  part  of 
spectators  present,  required  them  to  be  seated,  and  said: 
"Gentlemen,  take  ofif  your  hats,  for  the  United  States  mail 
is  now  to  be  opened  and  distributed." 

In  1808  he  was  appointed  County  Surrogate,  but  was 
turned  out  by  the  Federalists  in  February,  1813.  In 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  551 

March,  1815,  he  was  restored  to  his  old  place,  and  held  it 
until  1819,  when  he  was  again  displaced  because  of  a  split 
in  the  Republican  party.'  In  April,  1821,  he  was  again 
appointed  Surrogate,  and  was  finally  superseded  by  a 
younger  candidate  in  his  own  party  in  1827. 

When  restored  to  the  office  for  the  last  time,  in  1821, 
he  was  also  made  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  and  held  the  place  until  1833. 

In  1813  he  accompanied  as  Quartermaster  to  Sacket 
Harbor  the  regiment  raised  in  Rome. 

On  July  4,  1817,  as  President  of  the  village,  he  was 
entrusted  with  the  duty  and  privilege  of  breaking  the  first 
ground  for  the  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal,  in  Rome. 

He  died  in  Rome  on  December  8,  1836,  in  his  76th' 
year. 

His  wife  died  in  Rome  on  November  4,  1824,  in  her 
49th  year.  They  had  four  sons  and  five  daughters, — all 
of  whom  grew  to  maturity  excepting  one  son  and  one 
daughter. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Miss  K.  S.  Hayden,  MS.  Letter,  Oneida  County,  388.  Pres.  Stiles, 
Febr.  23,  1907.  Hough,  Amer.  Biogr.  Literary  Diary,  iii,  106,  146.  Wager, 
Notes,  196.  P.  Jones,  Annals  of  Men  of  early  Rome,  18-21. 


WILLIAM  HAWLEY  was  born  in  Redding,  Connecticut, 
on  February  9,  1767,  the  fifth  child  and  third  son  of 
William  Hawley,  of  Redding,  and  grandson  of  Joseph 
and  Hannah  (Walker)  Hawley,  of  Redding.  His  mother 
was  Lydia,  fourth  daughter  of  Captain  Thomas  and 
Rebecca  (Hull)  Nash,  of  Fair  field,  Connecticut.  He  was 
baptized  with  the  name  of  "Bille"  on  April  12,  1767. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  practiced  at  first 
in  Greenwich  and  in  Redding;  but  in  1798  he  settled  in 
Woodbury,  Connecticut,  which  he  represented  in  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  three  sessions  in  1802-05.  In  1803  he 
gave  up  his  legal  practice,  and  engaged  in  business. 

Later  he  removed  to  Oswego,  New  York. 


55 2  Yale  College 

He  died  on  June  16,  1854,  in  his  88th  year,  at  the  house 
of  his  daughter,  in  De  Ruyter,  Madison  County,  New 
York. 

He  married  on  December  24,  1794,  Sarah,  second 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Rutgers  Marshall,  of  Wood- 
bury,  who  died  in  Oswego  on  June  24,  1845,  m  her  74th 
year.  They  had  four  sons  and  three  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  368,       Nash   Family,   115.      Todd,   Hist,   of 
632.     Hawley  Record,  378-79,  382-83.       Redding,  195-96;    and  2d  ed.,  211. 


•  EBENEZER  HUNT,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  Eliphaz 
Hunt,  of  Coventry,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Lieuten- 
ant Simeon  Hunt,  of  Coventry,  was  born  on  July  2,  1766. 
His  mother  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  and  Sarah 
(Pinney)  Stiles,  of  Coventry,  and  a  first  cousin  of  Presi- 
dent Ezra  Stiles. 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation,  and  became  a 
successful  practitioner  in  his  native  town.  He  was  a  man 
of  superior  intellect  and  commanding  presence,  and  had 
great  influence  both  as  a  physician  and  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace. 

He  died  in  Coventry,  after  a  brief  illness,  in  the  midst  of 
his  usefulness,  on  April  23,  1808,  in  his  42d  year. 

He  married,  on  September  n,  1793,  Anna,  second 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Nathan  Strong  (Yale  1742),  of 
Coventry,  and  had  by  her  two  sons  and  three  daughters. 
The  younger  son  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in 
1830.  Two  of  the  daughters  married  in  succession  the 
Rev.  Alpha  Miller  (Hamilton  College  1815). 

Mrs.  Hunt  died  on  November  14,  1833,  m  ner  74th  year. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Dimock,     Coventry     Records,     60.       196.      Loomis    Female    Genealogy,    i, 
Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  744,  753 ;       338.     Stiles  Family,  105,  394. 
ii,    1470-71.     Hunt    Genealogy,    187, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  553 

DAVID  MOODY  JEWETT,  the  third  son  of  David  Jewett, 
of  Millington  Parish,  in  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Captain  Nathan  and  Deborah  (Lord)  Jewett, 
of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  was  baptized  on  July  19,  1767.  His 
mother  was  Sarah,  third  daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  and 
Deborah  (Dudley)  Selden,  of  Lyme.  Ezra  Selden  (Yale 
1773)  was  a  first  cousin. 

He  settled  after  graduation  in  Lyme  as  a  lawyer  and 
represented  the  town  in  five  sessions  of  the  General 
Assembly  between  1799  and  1808. 

He  married,  on  October  28,  1790,  Naomi  Hurlbut,  of 
New  London,  Connecticut.  Their  children  were  two 
daughters  and  three  sons. 

He  died  in  1821,  at  the  age  of  54. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i,  178;  ii,  872-73. 


ROSWELL  JUDSON,  the  eldest  child  of  Colonel  Agur  Jud- 
son,  of  Huntington,  then  part  of  Stratford,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Agur  and  Hannah  (Curtis)  Judson, 
of  Stratford,  was  born  on  November  27,  1769.  His 
mother  was  Ann,  eldest  daughter  of  Elisha  Mills,  and 
sister  of  Isaac  Mills  (Yale  1786). 

At  graduation  he  was  elected  to  the  Berkeley  Scholar- 
ship, and  accordingly  resided  at  the  College  during  part 
of  the  next  three  years.  During  this  period  he  studied 
law  with  the 'Hon.  David  Daggett,  of  New  Haven. 

He  settled  in  his  native  parish,  and  practiced  law  in 
Stratford. 

An  infant  child  of  Roswell  and  Sarah  Judson,  who  died 
in  1806,  is  buried  in  Stratford;  one  of  his  publications 
refers  to  an  idiot  son  as  one  of  his  crosses. 

For  some  years  before  his  death  he  was  partially  insane, 
and  wandered  about  the  country  in  that  condition,  partially 


554  Yale  College 

also  under  the  influence  of  liquor.  New  Haven  was  for 
some  of  the  time  his  headquarters. 

He  died  in  1835  (before  October),  in  his  66th  year. 

He  published,  after  his  mental  faculties  were  partially 
obscured : 

1.  Universalism  Refuted;  in  a  Letter  to  Rev.  Abner  Kneeland.  . . 

The  same.  Second  Edition,  revised,  corrected,  and  extended. 
Bridgeport,  1822.  12°,  pp.  37. 

[A.  C.  A.     C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  same.  Third  Edition.  Containing  Variations,  Emenda- 
tions, and  Additions  .  .  Bridgeport,  1823.  12°,  pp.  43. 

[A.  C.  A.     Y.  C. 

This  was  answered  in  1823  in  a  bitter  pamphlet,  written  by  the 
Rev.  Menzies  Rayner. 

2.  Verses,  written  during  the  Sickness  of  the  amiable  consort  of 
Mr.   Eli   Gilbert  Jun.  of   Huntington   .  .   — By  a  Friend  of  the 
Deceased. — Second  Edition.     Bridgeport,   1823.     12°,  pp.   10. 

[Y.  C. 

3.  Observations  on  Two  Epistles,  Responsive,  of  the  Rev.  Abner 
Kneeland,  of  Philadelphia,  to  my  Letter  refuting  his  inference  of 

Universalism  from  the  Benevolence  of  God Bridgeport,  1823. 

12°,  pp.  20.  [A.C.A.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus. 

Written  as  a  Supplement  to  the  third  edition  of  Number  i,  above. 

4.  Miscellaneous  Remarks  on  a  pamphlet  lately  published,  entitled 
"The  Force  of   Prejudice";    "Exhibited   in   a   careful   and   strict 
Investigation   of   Thirteen   Recommendations,    accompanying    Mr. 
Roswell  Judson's  Letter  and  Appendix,  addressed  to  the  Rev.  Abner 
Kneeland  .  .     By  an  Association  of  Gentlemen."     These  Remarks 
are  addressed  to  the  "Primus  inter  Pares"  of  this  supposed  Asso- 
ciation ;    or  the  efficient  Composuist  of  said  Pamphlet,  viz :    The 

Rev. : ,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  and  Peter's  Churches 

at ,  and .     — By  the  Author  of  the  Original 

Letter  and  Appendix.     1824.     12°,  pp.  28.  [A.  C.  A. 

Bitterly  satirical  in  its  invective  against  the  Rev.  Menzies  Raynerr 
his  antagonist. 

"  5.  Two  Epistles  of  Free  Stricture,  on  the  American  Dictionary  of 
Mr.  Webster,  on  the  Hebrew  Grammar  and  Hebrew  Chrestomathy 
of  Mr.  Stuart,  and  on  the  Manual  Hebrew  Lexicon  of  Mr.  Gibbs : 
addressed  to  Rev.  Eleazar  T.  Fitch,  D.D.,  Divinity  Professor  in  Yale 
College. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  555 

Second  Edition :  Revised,  corrected,  and  enlarged.     New-Haven, 
1830.     12°,  pp.  68.  [Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Stratford,  ii,  1230.    Pres.  Stiles,  Lit.  Diary,  iii,  262,  382. 


WILLIAM  KIBBE,  son  of  Isaac  and  Margaret  Kibbe,  was 
born  in  Enfield,  Connecticut,  on  March  4,  1767.  His 
mother  was  the  eldest  child  of  Isaac  and  Margaret 
(Downing)  Terry,  of  Enfield. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  from  1792  to 
1800  he  practiced  his  profession  in  his  native  town. 

He  afterwards  settled  in  Canandaigua,  New  York, 
where  he  died  on  August  4,  1841,  in  his  74th  year. 

He  married  on  June  7,  1792,  his  second  cousin,  Esther, 
eldest  child  of  Judge  Eliphalet  and  Mary  (Hall)  Terry, 
of  Enfield,  who  was  born  on  January  5,  1767. 

Their  children  were  five  daughters  and  a  son. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vii,  82.    Terry  Families,  37,  42,  78. 


LIBERTY  KIMBERLY,  son  of  Israel  and  Mary  (Umber- 
field)  Kimberly,  of  West  Haven,  Connecticut,  and  grand- 
son of  Nathaniel  Kimberly,  of  West  Haven,  was  born  in 
that  village  on  March  i,  1767. 

He  spent  his  life  as  a  physician  in  Derby,  Connecticut, 
and  died  there  on  June  i,  1827,  in  his  6ist  year. 

He  married,  in  1788,  Elizabeth,  fourth  daughter  of 
Elisha  and  Susannah  (Hall)  Whittelsey,  of  Wallingford. 

She  died  on  March  17,  1801,  at  the  age  of  38. 

He  left  a  widow  and  several  children,  to  share  a  very 
small  and  embarrassed  estate. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  94.       Genealogy,  57. 
Street     Genealogy,     43.      Whittlesey 


55 6  Yale  College 


CHAUNCEY  LANGDON,  son  of  Ebenezer  Langdon,  Junior, 
of  Farmington,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  November  8, 
1763.  His  mother  was  Katharine  Green,  a  native  of  New 
York  City,  whose  parents  were  born  in  Holland. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  Judge  Sylvester 
Gilbert  (Dartmouth  Coll.  1775),  of  Hebron,  Connecticut, 
and  there  married,  on  April  7,  1789,  Lucy  Nona,  the  ninth 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Elijah  Lathrop  (Yale  1749),  of 
Hebron,  and  a  sister  of  one  of  his  classmates. 

Immediately  on  the  completion  of  his  preparation  he 
settled  in  Castleton,  Rutland  County,  Vermont,  and 
thoroughly  identified  himself  with  all  its  interests.  He 
was  active  in  politics  as  a  Federalist,  and  held  a  variety 
of  public  offices,  though  the  preponderance  of  Jeffersonian 
sentiments  in  the  locality  interfered  sensibly  with  his 
advancement.  Thus,  he  was  Register  of  Probate  in 
1792-94,  1796,  and  1813;  Judge  of  Probate  in  1798-99; 
a  Representative  in  the  State  Legislature  in  1813-14,  1817, 
1819-20,  and  1822;  and  a  Member  of  Congress  during 
one  session,  1815-17.  In  1808,  and  again  from  1823  until 
his  death,  he  was  one  of  the  Councillors  of  the  State. 

He  was  elected  a  Trustee  of  Middlebury  College  in  1811, 
and  remained  on  that  board  until  his  death.  That  College 
had  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts  in  1803. 

He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Castleton  from  an  early  period,  and  was  greatly  inter- 
ested in  the  benevolent  organizations  of  the  State, — 
especially  in  the  Vermont  Bible  Society,  of  which  he  was 
for  years  an  officer. 

His  professional  attainments  as  well  as  his  integrity 
and  discretion  commanded  universal  respect. 

He  died  in  Castleton  on  July  23,  1830,  in  his  67th  year. 
His  wife  died  there  on  January  14,  1834,  at  the  age  of  64. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  557 

His  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1818. 
He  published : 

1.  Beauties  of   Psalmody.      Containing  concisely  the   Rules  of 
Singing  with  a  collection  of  the  most  approved  Psalm-Tunes  and 
Anthems.     By  a  Member  of  the  Musical  Society  of  Yale-College 
1786.     Oblong  16°,  pp.  56.  [A.  A.  S. 

2.  An  Oration  on  the   Virtues   and   Death  of   General   George 
Washington,  .  .  delivered  at  Castleton,  February  22d,  1800.     Rut- 
land.    8°,  pp.  24.  [B.  Ath.     U.  S. 

3.  Oration  at  Poultney,  July  4,  1804.     Salem,  1804.     8°. 

4.  An  Oration,  pronounced  at  Poultney,  July  4,  1808.   .  .     Rut- 
land, 1808.     8°,  pp.  32.  [A.  C.  A.     Y.  C. 

An  ardent  Federalist  argument,  against  Jefferson  and  Republi- 
canism. 

5.  An  Oration,  delivered  in  Castleton  at  the  Celebration,  of  the 
Fourth  of  July,  A.  D.  1812.     Middlebury,  1812.     8°,  pp.  35. 

[C.  H.  S.     N.Y.  State  Libr. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,  ton,  Lathrop  Family  Memoir,  122. 
96.  Currier,  Castleton  Epitaphs,  29-  Lamb,  Biogr.  Diet,  of  U.  S.,  iv,  624. 
30.  Hemenway,  Vermont  Hist.  Records  of  Gov.  and  Council  of  Vt., 
Gazetteer,  iii,  515,  522-24.  Hunting-  v,  186-87. 


DANIEL  LATHROP,  the  youngest  son  of  Dr.  Joshua 
Lathrop  (Yale  1743),  of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  was  born 
in  Norwich  on  October  13,  1769. 

He  settled  in  Norwich  in  the  drug  business,  in  which  his 
father  and  uncle  had  amassed  their  fortunes ;  and  much  of 
his  time  was  spent  abroad  in  ordering  goods. 

He  married,  on  August  14,  1793,  Elizabeth  Tracy,  third 
daughter  of  Dr.  Philip  and  Lucy  (Tracy)  Turner,  of 
Norwich,  and  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  his  classmate,  Gurdon 
Lathrop. 

He  died  in  Norwich  on  July  13,  1825,  in  his  56th  year. 

His  widow  died  on  October  10,  1850,  in  her  8oth  year. 
Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  one  son.  The 


558  Yale  College 

eldest  daughter  married  Jonathan  G.  W.  Trumbull  (Yale 
1807). 

Mrs.  Sigourney,  who  knew  him  well,  describes  him  as  a 
gentleman  of  portly  form  and  leisurely  movements — a 
pattern  of  amiable  temperament  and  domestic  virtues. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Huntington,  Lathrop  Family  Me-  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  6,  227. 
moir,  105,  146.  Perkins,  Old  Houses  Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  ii,  1082- 
of  Norwich,  145,  510,  580.  Pres.  83. 


ELIJAH  LEONARD  LATHROP,  the  only  son  of  the  Rev. 
Elijah  Lathrop  (Yale  1749),  of  Hebron,  Connecticut,  was 
born  in  Hebron  on  March  I,  1768. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  at  home  with  Judge 
Sylvester  Gilbert  (Dartmouth  1775),  and  in  Hartford 
with  Enoch  Perkins  (Yale  1781).  After  his  admission 
to  the  bar  he  established  himself  in  practice  in  his  native 
town,  and  there  married,  in  May,  1794,  Elizabeth  (or 
Betty)  Hubbard. 

In  1806  he  removed  to  Castleton,  Vermont,  at  the 
suggestion  of  his  classmate  and  brother-in-law,  Chauncey 
Langdon. 

About  1834  he  left  Castleton  to  live  with  his  children  in 
New  York  State;  and  on  May  10,  1841,  he  died  at  the 
home  of  his  son  in  Auburn,  New  York,  in  his  74th  year. 

His  wife  died  on  October  5,  1850,  at  the  house  of  her 
youngest  daughter,  in  Battle  Creek,  Michigan,  in  her  75th 
year. 

Of  their  six  children  two  died  in  infancy.  The  only 
son  who  survived  was  graduated  at  Middlebury  College 
in  1815,  and  became  a  successful  clergyman. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,  ,    Memoir,  122,  188-89. 
96.       Huntington,    Lathrop     Family 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  559 

GURDON  LATHROP,  the  eldest  child  of  Azariah  Lathrop, 
of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Nathaniel  and 
Ann  (Backus)  Lathrop,  of  New  London  and  Norwich, 
was  born  in  Norwich  on  December  6,  1767.  His  mother 
was  Abigail,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Isaac  and  Rebecca 
(Lothrop)  Huntington,  of  Norwich.  A  brother  was 
graduated  in  the  next  class. 

He  was  at  first  a  merchant,  and  afterwards  a  druggist 
in  his  native  town,  and  married  in  1791  Lucy  Ann,  eldest 
daughter  of  Dr.  Philip  and  Lucy  (Tracy)  Turner,  of 
Norwich,  born  in  1769. 

He  removed  about  1804  to  New  York  City,  and  is  said 
to  have  died  there  in  1828,  at  the  age  of  61. 

His  children  were  one  son  and  one  daughter. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Caulkins,  Hist,  of  Norwich,  637.  wich,  317,  511,  580.  Pres.  Stiles,  Lit- 
Huntington,  Lathrop  Family  Memoir,  erary  Diary,  iii,  118,  126,  227.  Wal- 
108.  Perkins,  Old  Houses  of  Nor-  worth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  ii,  1081. 


JOHN  HOSMER  LOTHROP,  the  elder  son  of  John  Lothrop 
(Yale  1762),  was  born  in  New  Haven  on  May  20,  1769. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  Daniel  Wads- 
worth,  of  Hartford,  at  the  same  time  conducting  a  school 
for  young  ladies  in  Wethersfield  which  proved  very  suc- 
cessful. On  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  opened  an  office 
in  Hartford,  where  he  soon  had  an  extensive  and  lucra- 
tive practice. 

He  acquired  such  a  reputation  that  about  1795  he  was 
employed  by  a  Connecticut  Company  interested  in  Georgia 
lands  to  proceed  thither  as  their  agent  and  dispose  of  their 
property,  receiving  a  certain  percentage  on  the  sales. 
During  a  stay  of  nearly  a  year  in  Savannah  he  became 
very  intimate  in  the  family  of  Major  General  Nathanael 
Greene. 


560  Yale  College 

On  returning-  to  Hartford  he  found  himself  a  rich  man 
for  those  days ;  and  instead  of  resuming  practice  there  he 
decided  to  indulge  his  taste  for  rural  life,  and  joined  the 
stream  of  Western  emigration. 

He  settled  in  Utica,  New  York,  and  on  February  i,  1797, 
married  in  Clinton,  Jerusha,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Kirkland  (Princeton  Coll.  1765),  long  a  resident 
in  Oneida  County  as  missionary  to  the  Indians. 

He  began  housekeeping  in  Oriskany,  and  lived  there  in 
a  house  which  he  had  built,  as  a  sort  of  gentleman  farmer, 
though  nominally  a  lawyer.  But  about  1799,  his  wife's 
brother,  George  W.  Kirkland  (Dartmouth  Coll.  1792), 
for  whom  he  had  indorsed  largely,  failed  disastrously  in 
business,  and  for  nearly  twenty  years  Mr.  Lothrop,  who 
had  surrendered  his  whole  property  to  his  creditors,  was 
burdened  with  this  indebtedness. 

He  removed  at  first  to  Whitesboro,  so  as  to  be  within 
jail  limits,  but  as  his  professional  business  increased  he 
was  released  from  this  nominal  confinement  and  having 
also  assumed  the  editorship  of  a  weekly  newspaper  called 
the  Whitest  own  Gazette,  he  removed  in  1805  to  Utica,  the 
name  of  his  paper  being  also  changed  to  the  Utica  Patriot. 

In  the  spring  of  181 1  he  disposed  of  his  business  interest 
in  the  paper  (though  remaining  as  editor),  and  removed 
to  New  Hartford  in  the  same  county,  where  he  had 
already  for  some  years  maintained  a  law-office;  but  five 
years  later,  in  the  spring  of  1816,  he  abandoned  his  pro- 
fession, and  accepted  the  appointment  of  cashier  of  the 
Ontario  Branch  Bank,  in  Utica,  and  the  family  returned 
thither  late  in  the  following  fall.  These  duties  formed 
his  principal  employment  for  the  rest  of  his  days,  though 
he  continued  to  contribute  to  the  Patriot  or  its  successor 
almost  to  the  last. 

He  died  in  Utica,  on  June  15,  1829,  having  just  entered 
on  his  6 ist  year.  His  wife  long  outlived  him,  dying  on 
February  20,  1862,  in  her  87th  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  561 

Of  their  children  four  sons  and  three  daughters  survived 
infancy.  The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Hamilton  Col- 
lege in  1818,  and  died  a  year  later.  The  second  son  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1825,  and  became  a 
prominent  clergyman  in  Boston.  The  eldest  •  daughter 
married  Edmund  A.  Wetmore  (Hamilton  Coll.  1817),  and 
the  youngest  married  her  father's  second  cousin,  Dr.  John 
H.  Lathrop  (Yale  1819). 

The  second  son,  in  his  printed  Reminiscences,  thus 
writes  of  his  father : 

My  father  was  a  most  agreeable,  intelligent,  accomplished  gentle- 
man, of  genial  manners  and  disposition,  with  a  fine  person  consider- 
able above  the  medium  height,  rather  too  stout,  but  so  well 
proportioned  that  he  was  not  clumsy.  He  was  a  good  classical 
scholar,  and  a  master  of  English  literature  up  to  the  time  of  Scott 
and  Wordsworth.  He  was  very  fond  of  poetry,  and  occasionally 
wrote  verses  himself  .  .  He  was  a  good  musician,  and  played  the 
flute  splendidly  to  my  boyish  ears.  He  played  the  guitar  also,  and 
had  a  fine  tenor  voice.  .  . 

Other  testimony  shows  that  his  natural  gifts  would  have 
ensured  him  distinguished  success  as  a  lawyer,  had  he  been 
fond  of  the  profession. 

His  portrait  is  copied  in  Dr.  Bagg's  Pioneers  of  Utica. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  original  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Hamilton  College,  in  1812,  and  served  until  his  death, 
being  also  for  some  years  their  Secretary. 


AUTHORITIES. 

W.  J.  Bacon,  Early  Bar  of  Oneida,  Annals  of  Oneida  County,  520-21. 
35-36.  Bagg,  Pioneers  of  Utica,  157-  5.  K.  Lottirop,  Reminiscences,  5-19. 
61.  Huntington,  Lathrop  Family  Wager,  Oneida  County,  pt.  1,286, 353. 
Memoir,  124,  193-95.  P.  Jones, 


RICHARD  McCuRDY  was  born  in  Lyme,  Connecticut,  on 
March  2,  1769,  and  died  in  the  same  town  on  August  8, 
1857,  in  his  89th  year. 
36 


562  Yale  College 

He  was  the  seventh  child  and  youngest  son  of  John 
McCurdy,  an  emigrant  from  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  to 
Lyme,  and  of  Anne,  third  daughter  of  Judge  Richard  and 
Elizabeth  (Lynde)  Lord,  of  Lyme.  His  father  died  at 
the  opening  of  his  Junior  year  in  College. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  Chaun- 
cey  Goodrich  (Yale  1776),  of  Hartford,  and  for  some 
years  engaged  in  practice  in  his  native  town,  but  was 
gradually  absorbed  in  the  care  of  his  large  farm  and 
competent  estate.  He  was  a  Federalist  in  politics,  and 
represented  the  town  in  four  sessions  of  the  General 
Assembly  (1806-12)  ;  but  preferred  a  retired  life,  in  the 
active  exercise  of  beneficence  and  hospitality. 

His  old  age  was  one  of  great  serenity  and  tranquillity. 

He  married,  on  September  10,  1794,  Ursula,  daughter 
of  Deacon  John  and  Ursula  ( Wolcott)  Gr  is  wold,  of  Lyme, 
who  died  on  May  25,  1811,  in  her  36th  year. 

Their  children  were  five  sons  and  a  daughter.  The 
second  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1.817,  and  survived 
to  be  the  oldest  living  graduate  of  the  College. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Salisbury,    Family    Histories    and       Hyde  Genealogy,  i,  161 ;   ii,  748-50. 
Genealogies,    i,    99-103.       Walworth, 


REUBEN  Moss  was  born  in  Cheshire,  then  part  of 
Wallingford,  Connecticut,  on  June  n,  1759,  being  the 
fourth  child  and  third  son  of  Captain  Jesse  Moss,  and 
grandson  of  Isaac  and  Hannah  (Royce)  Moss,  of 
Cheshire.  His  mother  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Benjamin 
and  Abigail  (Cole)  Moss,  of  Cheshire,  and  a  first  cousin 
of  her  husband. 

He  served  for  four  years  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution, 
and  through  a  narrow  escape  from  death  was  led  to 
become  a  Christian  and  to  seek  an  education  that  he  might 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  563 

preach  the  gospel.  He  finally  entered  College  in  May  of 
the  Freshman  year,  when  nearly  25  years  of  age. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull  (Yale  1759),  of  North  Haven, 
and  while  thus  occupied  became  engaged  to  one  of  his 
daughters. 

In  1791  he  preached  for  six  months  in  North  Stoning- 
ton,  Connecticut. 

On  February  23,  1792,  he  received  a  unanimous  call 
from  the  Congregational  Church  in  Ware,  Hampshire 
County,  Massachusetts,  which  was  concurred  in  unani- 
mously by  the  town  on  March  12  following,  with  the  offer 
of  a  salary  of  £80. 

He  accepted  the  call  on  May  18,  and  was  ordained  on 
June  21, — the  sermon  on  the  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Trumbull,  his  theological  preceptor,  being  afterwards 
published;  Miss  Trumbull,  however,  disdained  Ware  as 
too  small  and  unimportant  a  place,  and  his  engagement 
of  marriage  was  broken. 

He  seems  from  the  first  to  have  secured  the  confi- 
dence and  affection  of  his  charge,  and  through  his  influ- 
ence the  education  and  morals  of  the  town  were  much 
improved.  During  his  ministry  fifty  persons  were  added 
to  the  church.  He  also  gave  instruction  to  many  young 
men  and  young  women. 

One  of  his  associates  in  the  ministry  wrote  of  him : 

He  was  everywhere  rather  reserved  than  loquacious,  and  uttered 
no  more  words  than  were  useful  to  express  his  meaning-.  Pre- 
cision in  everything  was  a  trait  in  his  character.  It  appeared  in 
his  dress,  in  conversation  with  his  most  intimate  friends  and 
acquaintances,  and  in  the  management  of  all  his  domestic  concerns. 
He  was  punctual  to  all  his  engagements,  both  in  secular  and  relig- 
ious duties.  He  was  uniformly  respectful  in  manners  and  lan- 
guage to  all  his  people,  whether  old  or  young,  rich  or  poor ;  and  in 
return  he  shared  largely  in  their  respectful  regards. 

Mr.  Moss  gave  full  proof  of  sincere  and  earnest  devotion  to  the 
best  interests  of  his  people  .  .  Though  he  might  not  have  been 


564  Yale  College 

esteemed  a  distinguished  preacher,  yet  he  possessed  fair  natural 
gifts,  and  had  acquired  a  respectable  fund  of  theological  knowledge. 
He  was  sound  in  the  faith,  and  strictly  Calvinistic. 

He  is  characterized  by  one  of  his  successors  in  office 
as  "a  man  of  ardent  piety,  of  refined  feelings,  and  some- 
what distinguished  as  a  biblical  scholar.  As  a  preacher 
he  was  plain  and  practical,  and  enforced  his  instructions 
by  a  blameless  example." 

Twice  during  his  ministry  he  was  afflicted  with  mental 
derangement,  the  result  of  a  sunstroke  from  which  he 
suffered  during  the  war.  He  died  in  Ware,  from  dropsy, 
on  February  17,  1809,  ^n  his  5otn  year. 

He  was  married  on  October  15,  1795,  to  Esther  (called 
also  Hadassah,  cf.  Esther  ii,  7),  eldest  daughter  of 
William  Chesebrough,  a  prominent  and  wealthy  citizen  of 
Stonington,  Connecticut,  and  his  wife  Esther  (Williams) 
Chesebrough,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. Jesse  L.  Moss  (Yale  1869)  is  a  grandson. 

His  widow  returned  to  Stonington,  with  her  seven 
children,  and  died  at  the  residence  of  one  of  her  sons  in 
Westerly,  Rhode  Island,  on  September  27,  1849,  aged  73 
years. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Coburn,  Hist.  Discourse  at  Ware,  Moss,  MS.  Letter,  Febr.  23,  1907. 
23-24,  38-40.  Davis,  Hist,  of  Wai-  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit, 
lingford,  861.  Holland,  Hist,  of  i,  585.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,. 
Western  Mass.,  ii,  285.  Morse  Gen-  iii,  120,  270.  Wheeler,  Hist,  of  Ston- 
ealogy  (1905),  pt.  5,  32,  67-68.  /.  L.  ington,  304,  483. 


ISRAEL  MUNSON  was  born  in  New  Haven  on  February  3, 
1767,  and  was  baptized  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Bird  five  days 
later.  He  was  the  eldest  child  of  Israel  Munson,  a  black- 
smith of  New  Haven,  and  his  wife  Anna  Griswold,  and 
grandson  of  Israel  and  Mary  (Brinsmade)  Munson.  The 
family  home  was  on  the  northeast  corner  of  College  and 
Wall  streets. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  565 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine,  and  began 
practice  in  Branford,  Connecticut;  but  he  very  soon  aban- 
doned professional  life,  and  in  1796  embarked  in  business 
as  a  merchant  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  where  he  amassed 
a  large  fortune.  He  died  in  Boston  from  erysipelas,  after 
less  than  a  week's  illness,  on  February  3,  1844,  his  77th 
birthday.  He  was  never  married,  and  his  habits  of  life 
were  always  simple,  economical,  and  unostentatious. 

He  passed  through  a  long  period  of  active  business  life 
with  unblemished  reputation  for  integrity,  and  was  a 
liberal  benefactor  to  various  humane  and  literary  institu- 
tions. 

He  contributed  in  1833  five  thousand  dollars  towards 
the  Centum  Millia  fund  raised  about  that  time  for  Yale 
College ;  and  by  his  last  will  he  bequeathed  to  the  College 
twenty  thousand  dollars.  Besides  these  donations  he  gave 
at  other  times  smaller  sums  in  aid  of  different  objects  in 
the  institution,  so  that  his  gifts  exceeded  in  amount  those 
of  any  other  individual  up  to  the  date  of  his  death.  In 
commemoration  of  his  benefactions  his  name  was  attached 
to  one  of  the  College  professorships.  A  copy  of  his  por- 
trait was  presented  to  the  College  by  his  executor. 

His  estate  amounted  to  over  $500,000,  of  which  $70,000 
was  bequeathed  to  various  public  institutions,  including 
Harvard  College — the  remainder  going  mainly  to  the 
children  of  his  brother  and  sisters. 


AUTHORITIES. 
C.  C.  Baldwin,  Diary,  231.     Munson  Record,  ii,  686-89. 


ABRAHAM  NOTT,,  second  son  of  Deacon  Josiah  and 
Zerviah  (Clark)  Nott,  of  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  the  Rev.  Abraham  Nott  (Yale  1720),  was 
born  on  February  5,  1768,  and  was  prepared  for  College 
by  the  Rev.  John  Devotion  (Yale  1754),  of  Westbrook 
Parish  in  Saybrook. 


566  Yale  College 

He  was  sent  to  College  with  the  expectation  that  he 
would  study  for  the  ministry ;  but  at  the  end  of  his  course, 
finding  in  himself  no  suitable*  preparation,  and  being  in 
somewhat  delicate  health,  he  determined  to  seek  his  fortune 
at  the  South. 

He  first  spent  a  year  on  Sapelo  River,  in  the  County  of 
Mclntosh,  Georgia,  as  tutor  in  the  family  of  the  father 
of  Governor  George  M.  Troup,  and  then  removed  to 
Camden,  South  Carolina,  where  he  studied  law  with  Daniel 
Brown  (Yale  1783),  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Charleston  on  May  27,  1791. 

He  settled  first  at  Union  Court  House,  in  the  northern 
part  of  South  Carolina,  and  there  practiced  for  about 
three  years. 

In  August,  1794,  he  married  Angelica  Mitchell,  after 
which  he  removed  a  few  miles  to  the  northwards  to  his 
plantation  on  Pacolet  River,  where  he  continued  his 
practice. 

In  1800  he  was  elected  to  Congress  as  a  Federalist; 
and  in  the  momentous  struggle  for  the  Presidency  he  at 
first  voted  for  Burr,  but  finally,  as  his  good  sense  and 
purity  of  purpose  triumphed  over  party  trammels,  he 
abstained  from  voting  and  thus  assisted  in  the  election  of 
Jefferson. 

In  the  fall  of  1804  he  removed  to  Columbia,  and  there 
practiced  law  with  eminent  success  until  his  election  to  the 
bench  in  December,  1810. 

From  this  date  until  his  death  he  discharged  the  duties 
of  a  Judge  with  great  industry  and  ability.  When  a  Court 
of  Appeals  was  organized  in  1824,  he  was  placed  at  its 
head  by  an  overwhelming  vote,  and  his  untiring  labors  in 
that  position  undoubtedly  shortened  his  life. 

He  fell  a  victim  to  consumption,  which  fastened  upon 
him  in  Charleston  in  January,  1830.  He  died  on  the  I9th 
of  the  following  June,  at  the  residence  of  Dr.  David  H. 
Means,  in  Fairfield  County,  on  his  way  to  his  plantation, 
in  his  63d  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  567 

His  widow  survived  him  for  many  years.     Two  daugh- 
ters and  six  sons  also  survived  him. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.    Hist.    Association,    Annual       and  Bar  of  S.  C,  i,   121-24.     Pres. 
Report,  1896,  i,  863.     Goodwin,  Gen-       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  73. 
ealogical  Notes,  168.     O'Neall,  Bench 


ELIJAH  PERKINS,  a  twin  brother  of  Perkins  of  the 
preceding  class,  was  born  in  Newent  Society,  now  Lisbon, 
Connecticut,  on  April  5,  1767. 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  remained  in  Philadelphia,  where  he 
was  actively  engaged  in  practice  and  was  much  esteemed 
until  his  very  sudden  death  in  that  city,  on  June  21,  1806, 
in  his  4Oth  year. 

His  widow  survived  him. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Perkins  Family,  pt.  3,  28.    United  States'  Gazette,  June  26,  1806. 


OLIVER  PITKIN,  youngest  son  of  Colonel  William 
and  Abigail  (Church)  Pitkin,  of  East  Hartford,  Connecti- 
cut, was  probably  born  in  1766.  A  brother  was  graduated 
here  in  1783. 

He  studied  law  after  leaving  College,  but  did  not  engage 
in  practice. 

His  life  was  spent  upon  a  farm,  at  first  in  East  Hart- 
ford, and  later  in  South  Windsor,  Connecticut. 

He  was  never  married.  He  died  in  South  Windsor,  on 
January  12,  1849,  at  tne  a£e  of  82. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Pitkin  Genealogy,  26.    Stiles,  Hist,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  619. 


568  Yale  College 

FREEGRACE  RAYNOLDS,  a  son  of  Dr.  Samuel  Raynolds 
(Yale  1750),  of  Somers  (formerly  East  Enfield),  Con- 
necticut, was  born  in  Somers  on  January  26,  1767.  His 
grandfather  was  the  minister  of  the  mother  church  in 
Ehfield;  and  the  name  of  Freegrace  was  in  memory  of 
the  Rev.  Freegrace  Leavitt  (Yale  1745),  the  second  pastor 
in  Somers. 

After  graduation  he  spent  some  time  in  teaching,  and 
then  studied  theology  with  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles 
Backus  (Yale  1769). 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Tolland  Association 
of  Ministers  on  June  i,  1790,  and  preached  as  a  candidate 
in  numerous  places  in  Vermont  and  Massachusetts,  before 
he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Wilmington,  Massachusetts,  about  fifteen  miles 
north  of  Boston.  This  call  he  declined;  but  when  it  was 
renewed  four  months  later  he  accepted  it.  A  council  of 
churches  met  in  June,  1795,  to  ordain  him,  but  his  Hop- 
kinsian  tenets  were  so  distinct  and  so  unacceptable  to  a 
majority  of  the  council,  that  they  refused  to  take  action. 
A  second  council  was  called  which  finally  ordained  him, 
on  October  29,  1795.  His  pastor,  Dr.  Backus,  preached 
the  sermon,  which  was  published  with  a  selection  from  the 
other  exercises. 

After  a  ministry  of  over  thirty-four  years,  he  was 
dismissed  on  January  9,  1830,  and  then  supplied  various 
churches  in  Vermont. 

In  1832  he  removed  to  Leverett,  in  Franklin  County, 
and  was  installed  there  on  December  5,  as  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church.  In  1836  he  was  severely  injured 
by  a  fall,  and  his  voice  having  partially  failed,  he  was 
dismissed  from  his  charge  on  March  21,  1837,  and 
returned  to  Wilmington. 

His  last  days  were  exceedingly  peaceful  and  happy. 
He  died  in  Wilmington  on  December  6,  1854,  aged  nearly 
88  years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  569 

He  married  on  October  29,  1797,  Nancy  Brown,  of 
Wilmington,  who  survived  him,  and  died  in  Wilmington 
on  June  25,  1855,  aged  87  years. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  five  sons. 

Mr.  Reynolds  was  a  plain,  evangelical  preacher,  and 
was  singularly  pungent  and  clear  in  the  pulpit. 

He  published: 

1.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Thess.  ii,  13-14],  preached  at  Hollis,  N.  H. 
Jan.  17,  1804;    and  in  several  other  Places.     Amherst,  1804.     8°, 
pp.  24.  [A.  C.  A.     B.  Publ.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     U.  S. 

On  the  doctrine  of  election. 

2.  A  Sermon   [from  Jude  i,  3]   delivered  at  the  Installation  of 
the  Rev.  Titus  Theodore  Barton,  .  .  in  Fitchburgh,  April  12,  1804. 
Boston,  1804.     8°,  pp.  22.         [A.  C.  A.     Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.   Congregational   Year   Book       Amer.    Pulpit,    ii,    62.      Pres.    Stiles, 
for  1855,  loo-oi.     Packard,  Hist,  of       Literary  Diary,  iii,  88.      Wilmington 
Churches  in  Franklin  County,  Mass.,       Records,  67-68,  176,  244. 
243-44.      Sprague,    Annals     of     the 


SYLVESTER  SAGE,  the  second  son  of  Deacon  Jedidiah  and 
Sarah  (Marcy)  Sage,  of  Berlin,  Connecticut,  and  grand- 
son of  Captain  David  and  Bathsheba  (Judd)  Sage,  was 
born  on  January  24,  1765.  He  united  with  the  College 
Church  on  profession  of  his  faith  at  the  close  of  his 
Sophomore  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Cyprian  Strong  (Yale  1763),  of  Chatham,  Connecti- 
cut, and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South 
Association  of  Ministers  in  June,  1788.  On  March  16, 
1789,  he  was  invited  to  settle  in  East  Granville,  Massa- 
chusetts, but  declined. 

In  the  spring  of  1790  he  preached  in  Shelburne, 
Franklin  County,  Massachusetts,  as  a  candidate  for  settle- 
ment, and  the  church  was  equally  divided  (May  6,  1790) 


57°  Yale  College 

on  the  question  of  giving  him  a  call.  Thence  he  went  to 
Westminster,  in  Southern  Vermont,  on  the  Connecticut 
River,  where  he  was  called  to  settle  over  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  sixty-nine  members  on  June  24,  with  a 
salary  of  £100.  He  accepted  the  call,  and  his  ordination 
took  place  on  October  13, — the  sermon  being  preached  by 
his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Nathan  Fenn  (Yale  1775). 

He  proved  an  acceptable  minister,  but  his  parish  was 
much  weakened  by  the  organization  of  a  second  church  in 
October,  1799;  and  the  consequent  difficulty  in  raising  his 
salary  led  him  to  request  a  dismission  in  April,  1805.  Two 
years  later  he  renewed  the  request;  a  majority  of  the 
parish  voted  to  grant  it,  the  church  reluctantly  concurred, 
and  he  was  dismissed  on  May  19,  1807.  Dur.ing  his 
pastorate  ninety-five  persons  had  been  added  to  the 
church. 

On  November  4,  1807,  he  was  installed  as  colleague- 
pastor  with  the  Rev.  Ezra  Weld  (Yale  1759),  over  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  Braintree,  Massachusetts, 
the  sermon  being  preached  by  his  brother-in-law,  the  Rev. 
Hezekiah  May  (Yale  1793),  of  Marblehead;  but  as  the 
climate  of  the  seaboard  proved  unfavorable  to  Mrs.  Sage's 
health,  he  presented  his  resignation  and  was  dismissed 
on  May  4,  1809. 

Negotiations  began  at  once  to  induce  him  to  return  to 
his  former  charge  in  Westminster;  and  in  the  following 
August  he  was  engaged  to  act  as  pastor  there  for  a  term 
of  ten  years.  Without  the  formality  of  installation  he 
thus  entered  upon  a  pastorate  which  continued  for  nearly 
twenty-nine  years,  or  until  April,  1838,  when  the  infirmi- 
ties of  age  compelled  him  to  suspend  his  labors.  He  died 
in  Westminster  on  January  21,  1841,  at  the  age  of  76. 

He  married,  on  January  20,  1791,  Orpah,  daughter  of 
Colonel  Timothy  Robinson,  of  Granville,  Massachusetts, 
who  died  on  February  18,  1792. 

He  next  married,  on  January  7,  1793,  Clarissa,  youngest 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Eleazer  May  (Yale  1752),  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  571 

Haddam,  Connecticut,  who  died  on  December  16,  1836, 
in  her  67th  year. 

He  left  two  daughters. 

The  accounts  of  Mr.  Sage  which  are  preserved  indicate 
that  in  his  prime  he  was  a  model  of  manly  beauty  and 
possessed  delightful  social  qualities.  In  the  pulpit  his 
appearance  was  commanding,  and  his  manner  impres- 
sive and  dignified.  His  sermons  were  marked  by  clear 
statements,  sound  thought,  orderly  arrangement,  purity 
of  language,  and  neatness  of  style.  In  doctrine  he  was 
strictly  evangelical. 

He  published : 

1.  Sermon  at  the  Installation  of  the  Rev.  Jesse  Townsend.     New 
Durham,  N.  Y.,  1798. 

Mr.  Townsend  was  graduated  here  in  1790. 

2.  A  Sermon  [from  Prov.  xiv,  34],  delivered  before  His  Excel- 
lency the  Governor  . .  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  at  Westminster,  on 
the  day  of  the  Anniversary  Election,  October  I3th,  1803.     Windsor, 
1803.    8°,  pp.  31.  [A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

3.  A  Sermon  [from  Matt,  x,  27]  delivered  at  the  Installation  of 
the  Rev.  Reuben  Emerson  . .  in  Reading-,  Massachusetts :   October 
17,  1804.     Salem,  1805.     8°,  pp.  31. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.     Brown  Univ.     Harv.     U.  S.     U.  T.  S. 

The  Sermon  occupies  pp.  1-24. 

4.  A  Farewell  Sermon  [from  Acts  xviii,  n].     Preached  at  Brain- 
tree,  Mass,  on  Lord's  Day,  May  7,   1809    . .     Boston,   1809,  8°, 
pp.  24.  [Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.     Harv.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The  choice  of  a  text  (exactly  descriptive  of  the  circumstances) 
illustrates  the  accustomed  felicity  of  the  preacher. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Congregational    Quarterly,   xi,   43,       Series,  ii,  68-72.      May  Family,  85. 
47-49.      Deming,   Vermont    Officers,       Sage     Genealogy,     23.    Pres.    Stiles, 
196.    Hemenway,Vt.  Hist.  Gazetteer,       Literary  Diary,  iii,  183. 
v,  604-05.     Historical  Magazine,  2d 


572  Yale  College 


ALEXANDER  SHELDON  was  born  in  Suffield,  Connecticut, 
on  October  23,  1766. 

After  graduation  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of 
medicine,  and  entered  on  its  practice  in  Charleston,  Mont- 
gomery County,  New  York.  He  began  without  fortune, 
but  by  his  skill  and  industry  rapidly  achieved  success  and 
financial  prosperity.  He  received  an  honorary  degree 
of  M.D.  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in 
New  York  City  in  1812. 

He  also  acquired  an  influential  position  in  the  County, 
and  became  active  as  an  Anti-Federalist  in  local  politics. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Assembly  in  nine  sessions 
(1800-08,  and  1812),  and  was  five  times  Speaker.  He 
was  a  Regent  of  the  University  of  the  State  from  1808  to 
1817. 

He  was  appointed  in  March,  1815,  First  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Montgomery  County,  and 
held  office  for  four  years.  He  was  also  a  delegate  to  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1821. 

He  died  in  Charleston  on  December  19,  1836,  in  his 
7  ist  year. 

He  married  in  early  life  Miriam  King,  of  Sufiield,  and 
had  by  her  eleven  children,  of  whom  seven  arrived  at 
maturity ;  five  were  sons,  the  eldest  following  his  father's 
profession.  One  son  founded  the  publishing  house  of 
Sheldon  and  Company  in  New  York  City. 

He  married,  secondly,  on  September  17,  1818,  Clarissa, 
elder  daughter  of  Solomon  and  Prudence  (Robbins) 
Loomis,  of  Colchester,  Connecticut,  and  widow  of  Alfred 
Isham.  She  died  in  Schoharie  County,  New  York,  on 
December  n,  1860,  in  her  79th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Loomis  Genealogy,  2d  ed.,  85.    Smith  Sheldon,  MS.  Letter,  March  7,  1865. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  .573 


ROGER  SHERMAN,  the  oldest  son  of  the  Hon.  Roger 
Sherman,  of  New  Haven,  by  his  second  wife,  Rebecca, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Prescott,  of  Danvers,  Massachu- 
setts, was  born  in  New  Haven  on  July  16,  1768.  Two 
half-brothers  were  graduated  here  in  1770,  and  an  own 
brother  in  1795. 

He  spent  his  life  as  a  merchant  in  New  Haven,  occupy- 
ing a  house  built  by  his  father  on  Chapel  Street,  opposite 
the  Yale  Art  School,  and  still  standing  in  an  altered  condi- 
tion. He  was  highly  esteemed  for  his  integrity  and 
benevolence.  He  represented  the  town  in  the  General 
Assembly  during  three  sessions  (1810-11). 

He  preserved  his  health  and  activity  to  a  great  age, 
and  died  in  New  Haven,  of  pneumonia,  after  a  brief 
illness,  on  March  5,  1856,  in  his  88th  year. 

He  married,  on  September  I,  1801,  Susannah,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Staples  (Princeton  Coll.  1765), 
of  Westminster  Parish  in  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  and 
sister  of  Seth  P.  Staples  (Yale  1797),  who  died  in  New 
Haven  on  November  22,  1855,  m  ner  68th  year. 

Of  their  eleven  children  two  sons  were  graduates  of 
Yale,  in  1836  and  1839  respectively.  One  daughter 
married  Henry  White  (Yale  1821),  and  another  married 
Professor  Thomas  A.  Thacher  (Yale  1835). 


AUTHORITIES. 
Boutell,  Life  of  Roger  Sherman,  349.     Prescott  Memorial,  90. 


ADNA  STANLEY,  the  third  son  and  fifth  child  of  Deacon 
Noah  and  Ruth  Stanley,  of  New  Britain,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Thomas  and  Esther  (Cowles)  Stanley,  of 
New  Britain,  was  born  on  January  28,  1763.  His  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Macon)  Nor- 
ton, of  Stratford,  Connecticut. 


574  Yale  College 

After  graduation  he  taught  school  at  home,  and  then 
studied  medicine,  and  entered  on  his  profession  in  New 
Britain.  He  acquired  an  extensive  practice  in  that  and 
the  neighboring  towns,  and  to  this  was  added  the  care  of  a 
large  farm,  which  was  cultivated  under  his  direction.  He 
is  described  as  a  man  of  vigorous  mind,  but  few  words. 
His  manners  were  refined  and  dignified. 

He  continued  in  practice  nearly  to  the  date  of  his  death; 
which  occurred  in  New  Britain  on  December  30,  1825, 
aged  almost  63  years.  He  left  what  was  for  the  times  a 
considerable  estate, — nearly  $18,000. 

He  married,  on  April  16,  1809,  Nancy,  youngest  child  of 
Elizur  and  Lucina  (Francis)  Deming,  of  Newington, 
Connecticut,  and  had  by  her  a  family  of  five  daughters. 
Mrs.  Stanley  died  on  July  29,  1879,  in  her  94th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,    New    Britain,    138,   270.     '282.      Warren,  Stanley  Families,  65, 
Camp,  Hist,  of  New  Britain,  78-79,       97. 
446.    Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethersfield,  ii, 


ELISHA  STERLING,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain  William 
Sterling,  of  Hamburg  Society,  in  North  Lyme,  Connecti- 
cut, was  born  in  North  Lyme  on  November  5,  1765.  His 
mother  was  Jemima,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  and 
Jemima  (Dudley)  Sill,  of  Lyme. 

In  the  fall  of  1787  he  took  charge  of  an  academy  which 
had  just  been  opened  in  Sharon,  Connecticut,  and  con- 
tinued at  the  head  of  the  institution  for  two  or  three  years 
to  very  general  acceptance.  He  then  began  the  study  of 
law  with  the  Hon.  John  Cotton  Smith  (Yale  1783),  of 
Sharon,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1791. 

He  immediately  began  his  professional  life  in  the  adjoin- 
ing town  of  Salisbury,  and  there  prosecuted  his  profession 
with  great  industry  and  success  until  1830,  when  he 
retired  to  his  farm  in  the  southern  part  of  the  town. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  575 

He  represented  Salisbury  in  eight  sessions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  (1797-1816),  and  was  twice  sent  to  the 
State  Senate,  in  1833  and  1834.  He  was  for  nine  years 
( 1812-21 )  Judge  of  Probate  for  the  district  of  Sharon,  and 
State's  Attorney  for  Litchfield  County  from  1814  to  1820. 

He  also  held  the  position  of  Major  General  of  the  State 
Militia;  and  as  an  officer  of  that  body  rendered  efficient 
service  in  the  War  of  1812. 

He  began  his  career  as  a  Federalist,  and  retained  to  the 
last  his  attachment  to  the  principles  of  that  party. 

General  Sterling  died  in  Salisbury  on  December  3,  1836, 
in  his  72d  year. 

He  married  on  January  25,  1791,  Alma,  daughter  of 
the  late  Hon.  John  Canfield  (Yale  1762),  of  Sharon,  who 
died  on  March  n,  1830,  in  her  56th  year. 
.  He  next  married,  on  December  8,  1830,  Sarah,  widow  of 
.the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Elliott  (Yale  1786),  of  East  Guilford, 
and  a  native  of  Salisbury.  She  survived  him,  dying  on 
July  9,  1841. 

He  had  by  his  first  marriage  seven  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. The  third  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1820. 

General  Sterling  was  a  well-read  lawyer,  of  discrimina- 
ting intellect,  and  impetuous  elocution,  which  gave  him 
popularity  as  an  advocate.  His  aristocratic  tastes  inclined 
him  to  a  handsome  style  of  living,  in  which  his  wealth, 
acquired  by  devotion  to  various  sorts  of  business  outside 
of  his  profession,  enabled  him  to  indulge. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Church,  Centennial  Address  at  29,  525-26.  John  Cotton  Smith, 
Salisbury,  57-58.  Ely  Ancestry,  165.  Miscellanies,  119-21.  Walworth,Hyd& 
Hist,  of  Litchfield  County,  1881,  28-  Genealogy,  ii,  797-99, 


NATHAN  STILES,  the  youngest  child  of  Benjamin  Stiles 
(Yale  1740),  of  Southbury,  Connecticut,  was  born  in 
Southbury  on  May  12,  1767.  In  his  Senior  year  he  was 


576  Yale  College 

chosen  by  his  classmates  to  deliver  the  Valedictory 
Oration. 

After  graduation  he  engaged  in  mercantile  and  manu- 
facturing business  for  a  short  time  in  Salisbury,  Connecti- 
cut, and  more  permanently  in  Derby,  Connecticut,  where 
he  married,  in  1795,  Phebe,  daughter  of  Captain  Ebenezer 
and  Phebe  (Smith)  Dayton.  She  was  a  native  of  Coram, 
in  Suffolk  County,  Long  Island. 

He  built  a  handsome  residence  in  1795  in  that  part  of 
Derby  which  is  now  the  town  of  Seymour.  He  was  one 
of  the  persons  who  organized  an  Episcopal  Society  there 
in  1797. 

He  also  explored  and  opened  slate  quarries  in  Rhine- 
beck,  Duchess  County,  New  York. 

In  1804  he  made  an  exploring  tour  through  the  Western 
country,  and  contracted  the  lake  fever,  from  which  he  died 
while  on  his  way  home,  in  Schenectady,  on  September  24, 
in  his  38th  year.  His  estate  was  valued  at  over  $16,000. 

His  widow  died  in  Derby,  on  July  15,  1834,  in  her  58th 
year.  Their  children,  one  son  and  three  daughters, 
survived  their  father. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Derby,  764.  Sharpe,  Diary,  iii,  270.  H.  R.  Stiles,  Stiles 
Hist,  of  Seymour,  36-37,  152-53,  440,  Family,  485,  491.  Tuttle  Family,  117. 
562.  Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary 


JOHN  STODDARD,  the  eldest  child  of  Solomon  Stoddard 
(Yale  1756),  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  was  born 
in  Northampton  on  June  4,  1767. 

He  remained  in  Northampton  for  some  years  after 
graduation,  and  married  while  there,  on  February  4,  or  7, 
1798,  Molly  Williams,  third  daughter  of  William  Billings 
(Y.  C.  1765),  of  Con  way,  Massachusetts. 

He  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Land  Company,  which  was  interested  in  the  settlement 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  577 

of  "New  Connecticut,"  the  Western  Reserve  in  Ohio. 
In  1799  he  went  to  that  region  as  a  member  of  a  surveying 
party,  and  in  1805  he  assisted  in  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty 
with  the  Indians  for  the  extinguishment  of  their  title  to 
the  lands  in  the  Reserve. 

Having  failed  in  business  as  a  merchant  in  North- 
ampton, he  removed  into  New  York  State.  In  1812  he 
was  keeping  an  inn  in  Nassau,  Rensselaer  County,  and 
he  is  also  heard  of  in  Albany. 

He  finally  settled  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  died  on 
May  9,  1853,  aged  nearly  86  years. 

His  widow  died  on  February  21,  1857,  at  the  age  of  78. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  three  sons. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Mass.  Hist.  Society's  Proceedings,       Sunderland,  273.      Stoddard  Family, 
2d  Series,  xix,  367.    Smith,  Hist,  of       1865,  80. 


SAMUEL  STURGES,  son  of  Captain  Hezekiah  Sturges,  a 
well-to-do  farmer  of  Green's  Farms,  in  the  present  town- 
ship of  Westport,  then  part  of  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Solomon  Sturges,  of  Fairfield,  was  baptized 
on  March  2,  1766.  His  mother  was  Abigail,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Ebenezer  Dimon  (Yale  1728),  of  Fairfield.  He 
was  admitted  to  membership  in  the  College  Church,  on 
profession  of  his  faith,  in  July  of  his  Senior  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  on  May  26, 
1789,  he  was  licensed  by  the  Fairfield  West  Association 
of  Ministers.  In  April,  1790,  he  was  invited  to  preach 
in  the  parish  of  Bethel,  Connecticut ;  he  was  called  to  settle 
on  August  4,  but  declined  the  call. 

For  some  years  he  preached  as  opportunity  offered, 
settling  on  the  paternal  homestead  at  Green's  Farms,  and 
marrying  on  November  30,  1796,  Mary  Hurlbut,  of  New- 
town,  Connecticut,  a  daughter  of  Captain  Daniel  and 

37 


5?8  Yale  College 

Esther  (Patrick)  Hurlbut,  of  Wilton.  She  was  born  on 
March  27,  1781. 

For  five  or  six  years,  1800-1806,  he  supplied  statedly  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  Greenwich,  Connecticut, 
but  was  never  regularly  installed  there. 

In  December,  1805,  ne  again  supplied  the  pulpit  in 
Bethel,  and  received  a  call  on  February  6,  1806,  which  he 
accepted.  He  was  accordingly  ordained  and  installed 
there  on  April  9,  1806;  but  the  financial  resources  of  the 
people  were  slender,  and  Mr.  Sturges  was  dismissed  on 
December  n,  1811.  He  continued  to  reside  there,  and 
served  as  Clerk  of  the  Church  until  1817,  when  he 
returned  to  his  beloved  farm  in  Fairfield,  where  he  died  on 
November  22,  1835,  in  his  7oth  year. 

He  was  universally  respected  as  a  man  of  good  mind 
and  pure  character. 

His  children  were  six  sons  and  four  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iii,  County,  868-69.  Hurlbut  Genealogy, 
72.  Child,  Hist,  of  1st  Congre-  138,  448.  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Lewis,  MS. 
gational  Church,  Greenwich,  12.  Letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  B.  Trumbull,  June, 
Hickok,  Century  Sermon  at  Bethel,  1806.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii, 
10,  13-14.  Hurd,  Hist,  of  Fairfield  268. 


WILLIAM  TAYLOR  was  born  in  South  Hadley,  Massa- 
chusetts, probably  in  1764. 

After  graduation,  he  returned  to  Hadley,  but  never  pur- 
sued any  profession,  nor  indeed  any  regular  occupation. 
Being  naturally  indolent,  he  gradually  used  up  his 
inherited  property  and  sank  into  poverty. 

He  married  Cleone  Day,  and  had  one  son  and  one 
daughter.  The  son  was  in  business  in  New  York  City, 
and  after  his  death  (about  1837)  the  father  earned  a 
precarious  living  by  selling  small  articles  in  the  street. 
About  midnight  of  December  15-16,  1838,  a  fire  broke  out 
in  the  building  adjoining  that  in  which  he  lodged,  and  he 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  579 

was  suffocated  by  the  smoke  before  the  firemen  reached 
him.     He  is  said  to  have  been  in  his  75th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Sylvester  Judd,  MS.  Letter,  June  n,  1856. 


ELI  TODD,  the  younger  son  of  Michael  Todd  (Yale 
1748),  of  New  Haven,  was  born  in  New  Haven  on  July 
22,  1769.  His  father  died  in  1776,  and  in  1779  his  mother 
married  Samuel  D wight  (Yale  1773),  a  school-teacher  in 
New  Haven,  who  deserted  her  in  1786.  On  his  father's 
death  he  was  placed  in  the  family  of  a  distant  relative, 
the  Rev.  Jonathan  Todd  (Yale  1732),  of  East  Guilford, 
Connecticut.  Later,  he  was  prepared  for  College  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Elizur  Goodrich  (Yale  1752),  of  Durham,  Con- 
necticut. 

After  graduation  he  made  a  trip  to  the  West  Indies, 
and  was  intending  to  proceed  to  Europe  and  Asia,  when  an 
attack  of  yellow  fever  in  the  island  of  Trinidad  so  pros- 
trated him  as  to  induce  him  to  return  home  at  once. 

Soon  after  this  the  loss  of  his  patrimony  required  him 
to  hasten  his  professional  preparation,  and  he  began  a 
course  of  medical  study  under  Dr.  Ebenezer  Beardsley,  an 
eminent  physician  of  New  Haven. 

In  September,  1790,  he  entered  on  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Farmington,  Connecticut,  and  secured  the 
confidence  of  the  community  in  an  enviable  degree  as  a 
most  skillful,  patient,  and  sympathetic  physician. 

After  about  twenty  years,  having  acquired  a  reputation 
which  transcended  the  limits  of  his  circle  of  practice,  he 
was  invited  to  remove  to  the  city  of  New  York.  He  made 
the  change,  but  remained  there  only  a  short  time,  not  being 
pleased  with  a  city  life.  He  was  induced  to  return  to 
Farmington  by  the  earnest  solicitations  of  his  friends,  and 
continued  there  for  some  ten  years  longer.  In  1813  he 


580  Yale  College 

was  elected  President  of  the  State  Medical  Society,  and  in 
the  same  year  the  same  Society  conferred  on  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  M.D. 

In  October,  1819,  he  removed  to  Hartford,  to  which 
city  his  consultations  had  previously  extended.  Here  also 
he  gained  a  good  business,  and  soon  became  the  most 
favorite  consulting  physician  in  the  city. 

His  attention  had  for  many  years  been  especially 
directed  to  diseases  of  the  brain  and  nervous  system,  on 
account  of  his  hereditary  susceptibility, — his  father  having 
died  insane.  In  1821  the  number  of  cases  of  insanity  in 
Hartford  and  the  vicinity  emphasized  more  than  ever  the 
want  of  a  suitable  place  for  their  treatment.  Dr.  Todd 
saw  most  of  these  alone  or  in  consultation,  and  felt  keenly 
the  difficulty  of  managing  such  cases  in  private  practice. 
He  did  much  to  awaken  attention  to  the  need  of  an  institu- 
tion for  the  safe  keeping  and  cure  of  the  insane,  and  to 
him  probably  more  than  to  any  other  person  is  Connecti- 
cut indebted  for  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane  at  Hartford, 
which  was  incorporated  in  1822  and  opened  for  the  recep- 
tion of  patients  in  April,  1824. 

When  the  Retreat  was  ready  to  go  into  operation, 
unanimous  opinion  turned  to  Dr.  Todd  for  the  post  of 
Superintendent.  He  resisted  for  a  time  the  offer  made 
him,  from  the  fear  that  his  previous  zeal  in  promoting  the 
scheme  might  be  imputed  to  a  desire  for  office.  He  finally 
yielded  to  pressure,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  charge 
of  the  new  institution.  He  was  at  one  time  solicited  to 
take  charge  of  the  Bloomingdale  (New  York)  Asylum, 
and  was  afterwards  selected  as  Superintendent  of  the 
Massachusetts  State  Lunatic  Hospital  at  Worcester;  but 
he  declined  both  offers,  though  pecuniarily  attractive. 

During  the  last  three  years  of  his  life  he  suffered 
increasingly  from  distressing  paroxysms  of  dropsy  of  the 
'pericardium,  which  finally  ended  his  life,  in  Hartford,  on 
November  17,  1833,  in  his  65th  year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  581 

He  married,  on  August  9,  1796,  Rachel  Hills,  of  Farm- 
ington,  who  died  late  in  March,  1825. . 

He  next  married,  in  November,  1828,  Catharine  Hills, 
a  sister  of  his  former  wife. 

He  had  no  children. 

His  portrait  is  preserved  in  the  Retreat,  and  a  litho- 
graphed copy  is  given  in  Dr.  Williams's  American  Medical 
Biography,  which  also  contains  a  discriminating  memoir 
of  his  life,  contributed  by  Dr.  Samuel  B.  Woodward,  from 
which  the  following  extract  is  taken : 

His  personal  appearance  was  dignified  and  commanding,  at  the 
same  time  exhibiting  condescension  and  urbanity.  His  form  was 
symmetrical,  and  his  activity  and  strength  proverbial  . . .  His 
countenance  was  strongly  marked,  expressive  of  vigorous  intellect, 
and  beaming  with  benevolence  and  kindness  . .  He  had  an  unusual 
flow  of  spirits,  facetiousness  and  raciness  of  conversation,  uncom- 
mon colloquial  powers  .  . 

Another  reminiscence  of  him,  by  Dr.  Gurdon  W.  Russell 
(Trinity  Coll.  1834),  is  as  follows: 

He  was  of  about  medium  height,  of  rather  a  full  figure,  dressed 
in  a  blue  skirted  coat,  buttoned  tightly  round  him.  His  eyes  were 
bright  and  piercing,  and  his  countenance  lighted  with  a  very  pleasant 
expression.  His  whole  manner  was  cheerful  and  sympathetic. 

Dr.  Asahel  Thomson  (Yale  1810),  of  Farmington,  has 
also  written  of  him  at  length,  and  the  following  sentences 
may  be  quoted : 

Dr.  Todd  was  a  man  of  rare  mental  endowments  . . .  His  intellect 
was  strong  and  vigorous,  capable  of  readily  comprehending,  master- 
ing and  illustrating  any  subject  to  which  his  attention  was 
directed, — his  judgment  was  profound,  clear  and  discriminating, — 
his  apprehension  remarkably  quick, — his  memory  strongly  reten- 
tive,— his  imagination  and  fancy  brilliant  and  ever  awake,  and  his 
taste  delicate  and  refined  .  .  But  while  his  rare  intellectual  powers 
inspired  sentiments  of  respect  and  admiration,  his  moral  and  social 
qualities,  the  attributes  of  the  heart,  secured  to  him  the  strongest 
attachment.  .  .  As  a  practitioner  he  long  and  extensively  enjoyed 


582  Yale  College 

the  confidence  of  the  community  in  an  enviable  degree ;  perhaps 
none  of  his  contemporaries  in  the  State  attained  a  higher  rank.  He 
evinced  uncommon  sagacity  in  investigating  the  causes,  seats  and 
nature  of  diseases,  and  was  usually  remarkably  accurate  in  his 
predictions  of  the  changes  they  would  undergo,  and  of  their 
terminations. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Camp,  Hist,  of  N.  Britain,  448-49.  Hartford  Physicians,  25-27,  31. 
Dickerman  Ancestry,  217-19.  Porter,  Trumbull,  Hist,  of  Hartford  County, 
Hist.  Discourse  in  Farmington,  90-  ii,  196-97.  Tuttle  Family,  35.  Wil- 
92.  Russell,  Early  Medicine  in  Conn.,  Hams,  Amer.  Medical  Biography, 
89.  Sumner  and  Russell,  Sketches  of  583-99. 


CALVIN  TYLER  came  to  College  from  Northford  Society, 
in  the  present  township  of  North  Branford,  Connecticut, 
being  a  son  of  Obadiah  and  Hannah  (Barker)  Tyler,  and 
grandson  of  Roger  and  Martha  Tyler. 

He  died  on  October  30,  1788,  at  the  age  of  21. 


JAMES  WADSWORTH,  the  youngest  son  of  John  Noyes 
and  Esther  (Parsons)  Wads  worth,  of  Durham,  Connecti- 
cut, and  a  nephew  of  General  James  Wadsworth  (Yale 
1748),  was  born  in  Durham  on  April  20,  1768,  and  was 
baptized  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elizur  Goodrich  on  April  28. 

He  spent  the  winter  after  graduation  in  teaching  in 
Montreal.  ,  . 

Before  this  his  father  had  died,  and  he  and  his  next 
older  brother  sought  the  advice  of  their  father's  second 
cousin,  the  Hon.  Jeremiah  Wadsworth,  of  Hartford,  for 
an  advantageous  investment  of  their  little  patrimony. 
Colonel  Wadsworth  was  the  owner  of  large  tracts  of  land 
in  the  then  unsettled  interior  of  New  York  State,  on  the 
Genesee  River;  and  he  proposed  to  the  two  brothers  to 
purchase  part  of  this  land  from  him,  and  to  become  his 
agents  for  the  management  of  the  remainder. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  583 

With  remarkable  foresight  and  decision  of  character 
they  accepted  this  offer,  and  having  bought  a  portion  of 
Colonel  Wadsworth's  land,  in  the  present  townships  of 
Geneseo  and  Avon,  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Genesee 
River,  they  began  to  prepare  it  for  settlement  in  June, 
1790. 

In  the  subsequent  division  of  labor  between  the  two 
proprietors,  James  undertook  the  land  agency  and  the 
travel  needed  for  looking  up  settlers  and  buying  and  sell- 
ing supplies  and  products.  In  this  capacity  his  personal 
address  and  business  talents  were  so  successful  that  in 
February,  1796,  he  went  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of 
interesting  capitalists  there  in  Central  and  Western  New 
York  lands.  He  returned  in  November,  1798,  having 
executed  this  commission  successfully,  and  gained  personal 
benefit  from  the  experience. 

On  October  i,  1804,  he  married  Naomi,  second  daughter 
of  Samuel  and  Jerusha  (Wolcott)  Wolcott,  of  East 
Windsor,  Connecticut,  and  under  her  judicious  manage- 
ment the  mansion  at  Geneseo  was  a  model  of  generous 
hospitality. 

Mrs.  Wadsworth  died  on  March  i,  1831,  in  her  54th 
year. 

Mr.  Wadsworth  died  on  June  8,  1844,  in  his  77th 
year.  His  children  were  three  daughters  (two  of  whom 

His  eldest  daughter  married  Martin  Brimmer  (Har- 
vard 1814),  and  the  youngest  married  Sir  Charles  Murray, 
a  son  of  the  Earl  of  Dunmore.  His  elder  son  won  distinc- 
tion in  the  Civil  War. 

Mr.  Wadsworth's  success  was  in  great  part  due  to  his 
method  and  skill  in  business.  These  qualities  secured  him 
ample  leisure,  which  he  improved  for  an  extensive  corre- 
spondence, and  for  private  study,  especially  in  the  direction 
of  political  economy. 

His  modesty  prevented  his  appearing  as  an  author ;  but 
his  influence  was  otherwise  exerted  quite  as  effectively. 


584  Yale  College 

To  his  initiative  was  largely  due  the  Common  School 
System  of  the  State,  and  at  his  own  expense  he  printed 
and  circulated  a  great  variety  of  publications  on  education, 
and  offered  premiums  to  encourage  the  establishment  of 
school-libraries. 

His  benefactions  are  in  part  summarized  in  Barnard's 
Journal  of  Education  as  follows : 

Mr.  Wadsworth  was  all  his  life  a  liberal  contributor  to  the  erec- 
tion of  school-houses  and  churches,  in  his  own  town  and  county, 
and  to  every  object  of  educational  improvement.  His  annual  dona- 
tions in  aid  of  lecturers  on  scientific  topics  amounted  to  a  large  sum. 
Before  his  death  he  erected,  in  the  village  of  Geneseo,  a  building 
for  the  accommodation  of  a  public  library,  and  of  apparatus  for 
illustrating  scientific  lectures  .  .  In  these  and  other  ways,  it  is 
estimated  that  Mr.  Wadsworth  expended  over  ninety  thousand 
dollars  in  the  advancement  of  popular  education,  besides  the  greater 
service  of  the  example  of  a  gentleman  of  large  estate,  and  the 
highest  social  position,  taking  a  constant  personal  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  his  fellow-men,  and  administering  his  own  charities  with 
the  same  careful  attention  that  he  paid  to  the  management  of  his 
estate. 

His  portrait  is  engraved  in  connection  with  the  article 
last  quoted,  and  elsewhere. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Journal  of  Education,  v,  Hist,  of  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  814. 
339-406.  Doty,  Hist,  of  Livingston  Turner,  Hist,  of  Phelps  and  Gor- 
County,  540-44.  Fowler,  Hist,  of  ham's  Purchase,  324-44.  Wadsworth 
Durham,  124-26,  317.  Loomis  Fe-  Family,  52-57,  197.  Wolcott  Memo- 
male  Genealogy,  i,  30.  Pres.  E.  Stiles,  rial,  204. 
Literary  Diary,  iii,  365.  H.  R.  Stiles, 


ROGER  WHITTLESEY,  the  eldest  son  of  Lemuel  Whit- 
tlesey,  of  Newington  Parish,  in  Wethersfield,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Deacon  Eliphalet  and  Dorothy  (Kellogg) 
Whittlesey,  of  Newington,  was  born  on  December  9,  1767. 
His  mother  was  Hannah,  third  daughter  of  Robert  and 
Lucy  (Burnham)  Welles. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  585 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  in  1790  settled  in 
Southington,  Connecticut,  where  the  rest  of  his  life  was 
spent.  He  was  an  upright  man,  a  sound  lawyer,  and  an 
excellent  farmer. 

He  was  the  first  lawyer  who  had  lived  in  that  place,  and 
gradually  acquired  a  large  local  business.  He  also  repre- 
sented the  town  in  the  General  Assembly  at  twenty-four 
sessions  between  1800  and  1819. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  decided  convictions, 
slow  in  his  judgments,  unwilling  to  confess  an  error,  and 
severe  in  his  criticisms  of  men.  He  united  with  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  December,  1833,  and  died  in  South- 
ington on  October  5,  1844,  in  his  77th  year. 

He  married,  on  October  6,  1793,  Anna,  or  Nancy,  third 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Smalley  (Yale  1756),  of 
New  Britain,  Connecticut,  who  died  on  February  5,  1806, 
of  pulmonary  consumption,  at  the  age  of  38. 

He  next  married,  on  November  26,  1818,  Anne,  eldest 
child  of  Squire  Asahel  Hathaway  (Yale  1759),  of  Suffield, 
Connecticut.  She  died  on  February  4,  1840,  in  her  6ist 
year. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  three  sons,  and  by  his 
second  marriage  one  son, — all  of  whom  had  children. 
The  third  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1822. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,  New  Britain,  133.     Conn.       low,  Hist,  of  Southington,  6,  445-46. 
Courant,    March    5,    1806.      Dwight       Welles,    Annals    of    Newington,    93. 
Family,  ii,  924-25.    Robinson,  Memoir       Whittlesey  Genealogy,  70,  no. 
of   Rev.   Wm.   Robinson,   125.     Tim- 


DAVID  HOWE  WILLISTON,  the  youngest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Noah  Williston  (Yale  1757),  of  West  Haven,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  West  Haven  on  July  18,  1768. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  his  father, 
and  with  his  brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  Richard  Salter 


586  Yale  College 

Storrs  (Yale  1783),  of  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts.  He 
united  with  his  father's  church,  on  profession  of  his  faith, 
on  January  31,  1790,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
New  Haven  West  Association  on  May  25. 

While  sojourning  in  New  Hampshire,  he  was  invited 
to  preach  in  the  new  township  of  Tunbridge,  Orange 
County,  Vermont,  with  the  result  that  a  Congregational 
Church  of  twenty-seven  members  was  organized  there  on 
February  5,  1792,  of  which  he  was  immediately  called  to 
be  the  pastor. 

He  was  ordained  and  installed  on  June  26,  1793,  and 
the  sermon  preached  by  his  father  was  afterwards  printed. 
His  ministry  prospered  until  the  introduction  of  other 
sects,  under  whose  influence  the  town  withdrew  its  sup- 
port of  the  pastor,  and  he  took  a  dismission  on  January  26, 
1802. 

On  June  21,  1804,  he  was  unanimously  called  and  on 
July  1 8  he  was  settled  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Sunderland,  in  what  is  now  Franklin  County, 
Massachusetts,  but  remained  there  for  only  two  years, 
being  dismissed  on  July  17,  1806. 

He  then  returned  to  Tunbridge,  and  made  that  place  his 
home  until  his  death.  For  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
time  he  labored  acceptably  as  a  missionary  in  Vermont  and 
Maine;  he  also  from  1830  to  1835  preached  to  the  people 
of  his  former  charge  without  salary. 

He  married,  after  his  ordination,  Susannah,  second 
daughter  of  Colonel  Ebenezer  and  Susannah  (Fletcher) 
Bancroft,  of  Tyngsborough,  Middlesex  County,  Massa- 
chusetts. Their  children  were  one  daughter  and  three 
sons;  the  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1820. 

Mrs.  Williston  died  in  Tunbridge  on  January  8,  1838, 
aged  71  years.  As  all  his  children  also  died  before  him, 
he  was  left  alone  in  his  large  house,  and  was  unwilling  to 
have  others  live  with  him.  He  acquired  a  reputation  for 
eccentricity,  although  his  piety,  his  devotedness,  and  his 


Biographical  Sketches,  1787  587 

missionary  zeal  were  unquestionable.  He  contributed 
largely,  in  proportion  to  his  means,  for  foreign  missions ; 
and  he  and  his  wife  denied  themselves  all  but  the  barest 
necessities  of  life,  in  order  to  give  more  liberally  to  this 
object. 

He  died  in  Tunbridge  on  October  29,  1845,  m  ms  7&tn 
year. 

He  was  of  medium  height,  and  somewhat  slender.  In 
the  pulpit  he  had  a  feeble  voice,  was  a  slow  speaker,  and  a 
close  reader  from  his  manuscript. 


AUTHORITIES. 

J.  M.  Comstock,  MS.  Letter,  March       County,  379-&X    /•  M.  Smith,  Hist 
17,    1906.        Hemenway,    Vt.    Hist.      of  Sunderland,  72-73.     Pres.  Stiles, 
Gazetteer,     ii,     1123-24.        Packard,      Literary  Diary,  iii,  94,  379. 
Churches  and  Ministers  in  Franklin 


588  Yale  College 


Annals,    1787- 


The  only  change  in  the  corps  of  College  instructors  dur- 
ing this  year  was  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Tutor 
Abiel  Holmes  (Yale  1783)  at  the  opening  of  the  October 
term,  his  place  being  filled  by  the  election  of  Barnabas 
Bidwell  (Yale  1785). 

Two  vacancies  were  occasioned  in  the  Corporation: — 
by  the  death  of  the  Rev.  John  Trumbull  (Yale  1735),  of 
Watertown,  in  December,  and  that  of  the  Rev.  Warham 
Williams  (Yale  1745),  of  Northford,  in  April.  The  first 
was  filled  in  March  by  the  election  of  the  Rev.  David  Ely 
(Yale  1769),  of  Huntington;  and  the  second  by  the  elec- 
tion at  Commencement  in  1788  of  the  Rev.  Nathan  Wil- 
liams (Yale  1755),  of  Tolland. 

A  Memorial  presented  by  the  Corporation  to  the  Legis- 
lature in  May,  praying  for  an  appropriation  to  defray 
the  expense  of  repairs  to  the  President's  house,  was 
negatived, — as  had  been  another  more  general  petition  for 
aid  in  the  preceding  fall. 

The  important  public  event  of  the  year  was  the  adoption 
of  the  Federal  Constitution,  in  June.  The  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  in  September  on 
John  Adams,  the  leading  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  589 


Sketches,   Class  of  1788 


*Noachus  Bennet  Benedict,  A.M.  "1831 

*De-Lucena  Benjamin  *I7&9 

*  Johannes  Caulkins  *I794 
*Calvinus  Chapin,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  Cone.  1816,  Tutor, 

Socius  "185 1 

*David  Chapin  *i8o2 

*Michael  Chenevard  *i8oi 

*Adamus  Stoddard  Clarke  *iS^.6 

*Guilielmus  Cobb  *i8i2 

*Daniel  Benedict  Cooke,  A.M.  "1844 

* Whit field  Cowles,  A.M.  1793  *i84O 

*  Johannes  Eastman  "1828 
*Benjamin  Gale  "1825 
*Hezekias  Goodrich 

*Elija  Gridley  *I&34 
*Prince  Briant  Hall 

*Moses  Hallock  '1837 

*Lucius  Hubbard  *i8o8 

*Lynde  Huntingdon,  A.M.  *i8o4 

*Gershom  Hyde  *i8oi 
*Guilielmus  Johnson,  A.M.  1792,  LL.D.  Ham.  1819 

et  Neo-Caes.  1820      ,  *:848 
*Jacobus  Lanman,  A.M.,  Rerumpubl.  Foed.  Sen., 

Reip.  Conn.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  *i84i 

*Carolus  Lathrop  "183 1 
*Daniel  Wadsworth  Lewis 
*Jeremias  Mason,  A.M.  1796,  LL.D.  Bowd.  1815 

et  Harv.  1817  et  Dartm.  1823,  Reip.  Neo-Hant. 

Reb.  Judic.  Praefect.,  Rerump.  Foed.  Sen. 
*Isaacus  Porter,  A.M. 


59°  Yale  College 

*  Johannes  Salter,  A.M.  *i83i 

*Guilielmus  Shelton,  A.M.  1817  et  M.D.  1817  "1819 

*Elnathan  Smith  *i8oi 

*Josua  Stanton,  A.M.  1796  v-      *i8o6 

*Daniel  Stebbins  *i8s6 

*Nathanael  Steele,  A.M.  Guil.  1795  "1795 

*Josephus  Strong,  A.M.  *i8i2 

*Zacharias  Tomlinson,  A.M.  *:797 

*Daniel  Waldo,  A.M.  "1864 
*Johannes    Woodworth,    A.M.,    LL.D.    Guilielm. 
1829,  Reip.  Nov.  Ebor.  Reb.  Judic.  Praefect.  et 

Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.  "1858 


NOAH  BENNET  BENEDICT,  the  eldest  child  of  the  Rev. 
Noah  Benedict  (Princeton  Coll.  1757)  and  Rhoda  (Ben- 
net)  Benedict,  of  Woodbury,  Connecticut,  was  born  in 
Woodbury  on  April  2,  1771. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation  with  his  brother-in-law, 
the  Hon.  Nathaniel  Smith,  of  Woodbury,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  Litchfield  County  Bar  in  1792.  He  then 
opened  an  office  in  his  native  town,  and  continued  in  suc- 
cessful practice  there  until  his  death,  reaching  by  unremit- 
ting labor  the  highest  rank  among  the  lawyers  of  the 
County. 

He  was  elected  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  in 
1796,  and  served  in  eleven  more  sessions  before  1827, — 
besides  being  a  member  of  the  Upper  House  of  Assistants 
in  1816  and  1817.  He  was  appointed  Judge  of  Probate 
for  the  Woodbury  District  in  1805,  but  resigned  on  his 
election  as  Assistant.  His  sympathies  being  with  the 
Federalists  he  was  in  opposition  to  the  prevailing  political 
sentiment  in  the  town. 

In  June,  1831,  he  was  taken  ill  while  attending  court 
in  Litchfield.  He  was  carried  home,  but  died  there  on 
July  2,  in  his  6ist  year. 

He  married  first,  on  June  27,  1793,  Lydia,  third  daugh- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  591 

ter  of  Jabez  and  Lydia  (Hunger ford)  Bacon,  of  Wood- 
bury,  who  died  on  July  5,  1808,  in  her  38th  year. 

He  next  married  Harriet  Tomlinson,  from  Brooklyn, 
New  York,  who  died  in  Woodbury  on  March  22,  1861, 
aged  74  years. 

No  children  survived  him. 

An  early  portrait  hangs  in  the  office  of  the  Probate 
Court  in  Woodbury. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bacon  Genealogy,  4-5.  Benedict  194,  252,  264,  288.  Hist,  of  Litchfield 
Genealogy,  370-71.  Cothren,  Hist,  of  County,  1881,  22-23.  Litchfield  County 
Woodbury,  i,  357-58,  517 ;  iii,  65,  166,  Centennial  Celebration,  57. 


DELUCENA  BENJAMIN,  the  son  of  Colonel  John 
Benjamin,  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
John  and  Mary  (Smith)  Benjamin,  of  Stratford,  was 
born  in  Stratford  on  February  n,  1771.  His  mother  was 
Lucretia,  daughter  of  John  and  Sibyl  (Whiting)  Backus, 
of  Windham,  Connecticut.  Josiah  Meigs  (Yale  1778) 
married  his  sister.  His  peculiar  name  was  that  of  a 
brother  of  his  mother,  and  derived  from  that  of  a  Spanish 
gentleman  to  whom  his  grandfather  had  become  warmly 
attached. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  a 
cultivated  musician,  and  in  the  winter  of  his  Sophomore 
year  was  allowed  to  play  the  new  organ  in  the  Episcopal 
church  in  New  Haven  while  an  organist  was  being  trained. 

Immediately  after  graduation  he  began  the  study  of 
medicine  with  Dr.  Ebenezer  Beardsley,  of  New  Haven; 
and  while  pursuing  his  studies  died  in  New  Haven,  from 
an  apoplectic  attack,  on  the  evening  of  December  23,  1789, 
in  his  I9th  year.  He  was  regarded  as  a  young  man  of 
great  promise. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.  Journal,  Dec.  30,  1789.  Hist,  of  Stratford,  ii,  1146.  Pres. 
Meigs,  Life  of  J.  Meigs,  15.  Orcutt,  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  201,  376. 


592  Yale  College 

JOHN  CAULKINS,  the  son  of  Pember  Caulkins,  of  New 
London,  Connecticut,  was  baptized  on  April  2,  1769. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  in  his  native  city,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Hon.  Richard  Law  (Yale  1751),  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  November,  1790,  and  began 
practice  there. 

Early  in  1792  he  left  New  London  for  the  South,  prob- 
ably on  account  of  his  health.  He  decided  to  settle  in 
Camden,  South  Carolina,  where  he  found  an  old  friend, 
Benjamin  Perkins  (Yale  1785).  He  appears  to  have  been 
admitted  to  the  bar  there  in  April  1792,  and  there  he  con- 
tinued to  practice  until  his  death,  in  that  place,  on  January 
15,  1794,  at  the  age  of  25. 


4  ;  AUTHORITIES. 

Blake,  Later  Hist,  of  First  Church,      MS.  Letter,  May  u,  1906.    N.  Lon- 
New  London,  533.      T.  J.  Kirkland,       don  Gazette,  Febr.  27,  1794. 


CALVIN  CHAPIN,,  the  fourth  of  six  sons  of  Deacon 
Edward  Chapin,  a  farmer  of  Chicopee,  then  part  of 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Deacon 
David  and  Sarah  (Stebbins)  Chapin,  of  Chicopee  Parish, 
was  born  on  July  22,  1763.  His  mother  was  Eunice, 
daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (Merrick)  Colton,  of 
Longmeadow.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  served  for  six 
months  as  fifer  in  a  militia  company  of  the  Revolution. 
His  preparation  for  College  was  delayed  by  the  war,  but 
was  finally  completed  under  the  instruction  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Charles  Backus  (Yale  1769),  of  Somers,  Connecticut. 

He  was  one  of  the  best  scholars  in  his  Class,  and  after 
graduation  spent  two  years  as  a  successful  teacher  in 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  then,  under  the  influence  of 
a  new  religious  belief,  resolved  to  become  a  minister,  and 
soon  after  began  the  study  of  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Nathan  Perkins  (Princeton  1770),  of  West  Hartford, 
though  meantime  continuing  to  teach. 


Biographical  Sketches,  i"j88  593 

On  September  15,  1791,  he  was  elected  Tutor  in  Yale 
College,  and  he  entered  on  the  office  six  weeks  later,  at  the 
opening  of  the  fall  term.  Meantime  he  had  been  licensed 
to  preach,  on  October  6,  by  the  Hartford  North  Associa- 
tion of  Ministers. 

He  was  happy  and  successful  in  his  tutorial  work,  but 
in  February,  1794,  he  decided  to  accept  a  call  to  Stepney 
Parish  in  Wethersfield,  now  the  town  of  Rocky  Hill,  Con- 
necticut. He  accordingly  resigned  the  tutorship,  on 
March  13,  and  was  ordained  on  April  30,  over  a  church 
of  27  members,  on  an  annual  salary  (which  continued 
unchanged  to  the  end)  of  $333.  The  sermon  preached  on 
the  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Perkins  was  afterwards 
published. 

On  February,  2,  1795,  he  married  Jerusha,  younger 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards  (Princeton 
1765),  of  New  Haven,  and  sister  of  Jonathan  W.  Edwards 
(Yale  1789). 

His  entire  ministerial  life  was  spent  with  the  church  in 
Rocky  Hill,  and  not  only  was  he  a  most  faithful  and  excel- 
lent pastor,  but  his  influence  was  widely  exerted  in  behalf 
of  all  good  causes.  From  1805  to  1831  he  was  a  Trustee 
of  the  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut,  and  very  active 
in  that  office.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  formation 
of  the  Connecticut  Bible  Society  in  1809;  and  was  one 
of  the  five  individuals  who  projected  and  organized  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 
in  1810.  He  was  chosen  the  first  Recording  Secretary  of 
the  Board,  and  continued  to  hold  that  office  for  thirty-two 
years. 

In  1813  he  was  active  in  forming  the  Connecticut 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Good  Morals.  In  1816  he 
was  chosen  one  of  the  Visitors  of  the  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  and  he  served  as  Clerk  of  that  Board  until  his 
term  of  office  expired  on  reaching  his  seventieth  year  in 
1832. 

38 


594  Yale  College 

He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
from  Union  College  in  1816.  In  September,  1820,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Corporation  of  Yale  College,  and 
was  prominent  in  that  station  until  his  resignation  in  Octo- 
ber, 1846;  he  was  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee 
from  1821. 

He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  active  promoters 
of  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  even  succeeded  in  persuad- 
ing his  church  for  a  time  to  abolish  the  use  of  wine  in  the 
communion-service. 

Dr.  Chapin  continued  to  discharge  his  pastoral  duties 
with  his  accustomed  punctuality  and  fidelity  until  Novem- 
ber, 1847,  when  he  voluntarily  retired  from  active  duty. 
His  wife  died  soon  after,  on  December  4,  in  her  7ist  year. 

A  colleague  pastor  was  settled  in  July,  1850,  and  Dr. 
Chapin  died  peacefully,  while  sitting  in  his  chair,  on  March 
1 6,  1851,  in  his  88th  year. 

Two  sermons  preached  on  the  occasion  of  his  death,  one 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joel  Hawes,  of  Hartford,  and  one  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Mark  Tucker,  of  Wethersfield,  were  printed. 

His  children  (besides  a  daughter  who  died  in  infancy) 
were  one  son  (Yale  1819)  and  two  daughters.  The  elder 
daughter  married  Asher  Robbins  (Yale  1810). 

A  familiar  letter  from  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hawes, 
gives  this  account  of  his  characteristics : 

His  frame  was  tall,  erect,  and  well-proportioned,  indicative  in  its 
general  appearance  of  great  muscular  vigor.  His  spirits  were 
always  cheerful  and  buoyant.  . .  His  mind  was  quick,  clear,  and 
penetrating.  He  saw  many  things  intuitively,  which  most  Bothers 
would  have  to  reach  by  a  somewhat  protracted  mental  process.  .  . 
His  mind  was  in  a  high  degree  practical,  and  he  was  not  very 
tenacious  in  respect  to  matters  that  he  regarded  of  a  mere  specu- 
lative character.  As  a  writer,  Dr.  Chapin  was  without  a  parallel; 
and  by  this  I  mean  there  was  no  body  like  him.  His  thoughts  on 
the  most  common  subjects  received  the  hue  of  his  own  peculiar 
mind.  His  style  was  dense,  terse,  beyond  that  of  almost  any  of 
his  contemporaries.  .  .  But  I  should  give  you  at  best  a  very  unfin- 
ished portrait  of  this  venerable  man,  if  I  were  to  omit  all  reference 


'Biographical  Sketches,  1788  595 

to  what  was  certainly  one  of  his  most  striking  peculiarities, — his 
exuberant  and  boundless  wit.  This  gave  a  complexion  to  a  large 
part  of  his  conversation,  I  may  say,  in  some  degree,  to  his  whole 
character. 

He  published: 

1.  A  Sermon  [from  Jer.  i,  17],  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Whittelsey,    .  .   in  New-Preston,  Washington,  Conn. 
December  3Oth,   1807;    and  at  the  Ordination  of  the  Rev.  Hosea 
Beckley,  . .  in  Dummerston,  Vt.  March  2d,  1808.     Hartford,  1808. 
8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 
U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

2.  A  Sermon  [from  Gal.  vi,  10],  delivered  in  Hartford,  May  18, 
1814,  before  the  Connecticut  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Good 
Morals,    Hartford,  181^.    8°,  pp.  34. 

[B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

3.  A  Sermon   [from  Hebr.  xiii,  7-8],  delivered,  I4th  January, 
1817,  at  the  Funeral  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.D.  LL.D. 
President  of  Yale  College  . .     New-Haven,  1817.     8°,  pp.  35. 

[A.A.S.    A.C.A.    B.Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ. 
Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

4.  A  Sermon  [from  Job  xiv,  10],  delivered  at  the  funeral  of  Rev. 
John  Marsh,  D.D.  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Wethersfield :  who 
died  on  the  I3th  of  September,  1821  .  .     Hartford,  1821.    8°,  pp.  32. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brit.  Mus.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 

5.  Essay  on  Sacramental  Wines.     1835. 
A  prize  Essay. 

He  also  contributed  two  sermons  (pp.  47-87)  to  The  Columbian 
Preacher.,  a  Collection  of  Original  Sermons,  Catskill,  1808.     8°. 


AUTHORITIES. 

A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  Memorial  Volume,  iii,  431,  433,  516,  518,  522,  554.    H.  R. 

115,   127-28.     Chapin  Genealogy,  24,  Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethersfield,  i,  511, 

52-53.    Mass.  Soldiers  and  Sailors  of  850,   854-62,   881,   884,   938;    ii,   205. 

the    Revolution,    iii,    307.     Sprague,  Tillotson,   Wethersfield    Inscriptions, 

Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  323-  220. 
29.    Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 


DAVID  CHAPIN,  the  only  son  of  Benoni   Chapin,   of 
Chicopee  Parish,   in   Springfield,   Massachusetts,   by  his 


596  Yale  College 

second  wife,  Mary  Sykes,  of  Ludlow,  Massachusetts,  was 
born  on  March  2,  1766.  He  was  a  first  cousin  of  his 
classmate,  Calvin  Chapin. 

He  became  insane,  and  died  in  that  condition,  on  June 
26,  1802,  in  his  37th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Chapin  Genealogy,  25. 


MICHAEL  CHENEVARD,  son  of  Captain  John  Chenevard,. 
of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  John  Michael 
Chenevard,  a  native  of  Geneva,  Switzerland,  and  Mar- 
garet (Beauchamp)  Chenevard,  was  born  in  1771.  His 
mother  was  Hephzibah,  daughter  of  Captain  Hezekiah 
and  Hephzibah  (Merrill)  Collier,  of  Hartford. 

He  married,  on  September  i,  1794,  Martha,  daughter  of 
Frederick  and  Lydia  (Griswold)  Bull,  of  Hartford. 

He  led  a  life  of  dissipation,  and  died  in  Hartford,  on 
Saturday  evening,  November  14,  1801,  at  the  age  of  30. 
His  estate  was  insolvent. 

His  widow  married  a  Cook,  and  died  on  November  3, 
1832,  aged  58  years. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Hinman,  Puritan  Settlers  of  Conn.,       in  Hartford,  357. 
395,  555-    Parker,  Hist,  of  2d  Church 


ADAM  STODDARD  CLARKE,  the  eldest  child  of  Captain 
James  Clark,  of  Danbury,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  1768. 
His  mother  was  Hannah,  second  daughter  of  Deacon 
Gideon  and  Olive  (Curtis)  Stoddard,  of  Woodbury,  Con- 
necticut. A  sister  married  Professor  Moses  Stuart  (Yale 

1799)- 

He  died  in  poverty,  the  victim  of  intemperate  habits,  in 
Redding,  Connecticut,  on  September  21,  1846,  in  his  79th 
year. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  597 

WILLIAM  COBB,  the  youngest  son  of  Dr.  Samuel  Cobb, 
of  Tolland,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Tolland  on  January 
20,  1768.  A  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1772. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  settled  in  practice 
in  his  native  town. 

On  October  30,  1792,  he  married  Elvira,  daughter  of 
Dr.  John  Stearns,  of  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts.  Her 
mother  was  a  native  of  Tolland,  and  two  of  her  brothers 
were  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1789  and  1796  respectively. 

About  1798  or  1799  he  seems  to  have  relinquished  his 
profession  and  removed  to  Wilbraham,  and  thence  to 
Ellington,  an  adjoining  town  to  Tolland,  about  1804. 
A  few  years  later,  perhaps  about  1808,  he  returned  to 
Tolland,  and  died  there  on  February  25,  1812,  in  his  45th 
year. 

His  widow  died  in  Hartford  in  1846,  at  the  age  of  72. 
Their  children  were  six  daughters  and  three  sons. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bond,    Hist,    of    Watertown,    567.      64-65.      Waldo,  Early  Hist,  of  Tol- 
Van  Wagenen,  Stearns  Genealogy,  ii,       land,  97-98. 


DANIEL  BENEDICT  COOKE  was  the  third  son  of  Colonel 
Joseph  Platt  Cooke  (Yale  1750),  of  Danbury,  Connecticut, 
and  was  named  for  his  maternal  grandfather,  Captain 
Daniel  Benedict,  of  Danbury. 

He  settled  in  his  native  town  as  a  country  merchant,  and 
was  also  Judge  of  the  Danbury  Probate  District,  in  suc- 
cession to  his  father,  from  1813  to  1821. 

He  died  in  Walden,  Orange  County,  New  York,  on 
January  9,  1844. 

His  son,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Cooke,  was  at  one  time 
Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church  in  New  Haven,  and  received 
the  honorary  degree  of  M.A.  from  Yale  in  1847. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Hist,  of  Danbury,  141,  143,      of   a  lifetime,   i,  326.      Pres.   Stiles, 
485.     S.   G.   Goodrich,   Recollections       Literary  Diary,  iii,  325. 


598  Yale  College 

WHITFIELD  COWLES,  the  sixth  son  of  Captain  Josiah 
Cowles,  of  Southington,  Connecticut,  by  his  second  wife, 
Mary,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Mary  (Pynchon)  Scott, 
and  grandson  of  Thomas  and  Martha  (Judd)  Cowles,  of 
Farmington,  was  born  on  June  3,  and  baptized  on  August 
5,  1764.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by  his  pastor,  the 
Rev.  William  Robinson  (Yale  1773),  and  united  with  the 
College  Church  on  profession  of  faith  at  the  end  of  his 
Sophomore  year. 

He  studied  theology,  in  part  if  not  wholly  with  Mr. 
Robinson,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hartford 
North  Association  of  Ministers  on  October  5,  1790. 

On  June  18,  1794,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  Turkey 
Hills  Parish,  in  the  present  town  of  East  Granby,  Con- 
necticut; and  on  the  I5th  of  the  following  September,  he 
married  Gloriana  Havens,  of  Shelter  Island,  New  York, 
a  half-sister  of  the  Hon.  Jonathan  N.  Havens  (Yale  1777). 
She  died  on  April  12,  1802,  in  her  28th  year;  and  he  next 
married,  on  June  6,  1803,  her  first  cousin,  Desire,  only 
daughter  of  Daniel  and  Esther  (Fanning)  Brown,  of 
Shelter  Island. 

About  1806  there  began  to  be  rumors  affecting  his 
Christian  character,  but  no  specific  charges  were  preferred 
to  the  Consociation  until  1808.  A  change  of  doctrinal 
views,  verging  towards  Universalism,  and  faults  of  gen- 
eral character  were  alleged.  The  Hartford  North  Con- 
sociation met  at  Turkey  Hills  in  November,  and  on  the 
5th  of  that  month  they  voted  to  dissolve  the  pastoral  rela- 
tion and  also  to  suspend  him  from  the  ministry  until  he 
should  satisfy  the  Association  of  his  penitence.  It  should 
be  stated  that  he  was  a  Jeffersonian.in  politics,  and  this 
fact  was  probably  at  the  bottom  of  the  charges  against 
him.  He  endeavored  in  1810  to  secure  reinstatement,  but 
his  explanation  and  confession  were  judged  insufficient. 
Two  or  three  years  later  he  avowed  a  belief  in  the  doctrine 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  599 

of  universal  salvation,  and  removed  to  Ohio,  where  he 
preached  for  a  time. 

He  afterwards  returned  to  Turkey  Hills,  and  there  spent 
his  last  days,  dying  on  November  19,  1840,  in  his  77th 
year.  His  widow  died  there  on  December  10,  1850,  at 
the  age  of  68. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  one  son  and  one  daughter ; 
and  by  his  second  marriage  seven  sons  and  one  daughter. 

An  engraving  from  his  portrait  is  given  in  Mallmann's 
Shelter  Island.  He  was  a  large,  stout  man,  full  of  life  and 
much  given  to  pleasantry.  As  a  preacher  he  was 
emotional  rather  than  logical,  and  popular  with  his 
audiences. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Mallmann,  Shelter  Island,  77,  241,       ary  Diary,  iii,  237.     Timlow,  Hist,  of 
245.  307.     T.  Robbins,  Diary,  i,  355,       Southington,  487-90,  Ixvi,  Ixviii. 
369,  375-76,  426.    Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 


JOHN  EASTMAN,  the  eldest  son  of  John  Eastman,  of 
Hadley,  Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Joseph  and 
Mercy  (Smith)  Eastman,  of  Hadley,  was  born  on  Decem- 
ber 29,  1769.  His  mother  was  Submit,  widow  of  David 
Keyes,  of  Warren,  Massachusetts,  and  youngest  daughter 
of  Lieutenant  Jonathan  and  Hephzibah  (Dickinson) 
Belding,  of  Northfield,  Massachusetts. 

He  became  a  physician  and  settled  in  Flushing,  Long 
Island.  He  died  in  New  Rochelle,  Westchester  County, 
New  York,  about  the  middle  of  May,  1828,  in  his  59th 
year. 

He  was  never  married. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Judd,  Hist,  of  Hadley,  2d  ed.,  pt.  2,      xxi,  235. 
48.    N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register, 


600  Yale  College 

BENJAMIN  GALE,  the  eldest  child  of  Dr.  Samuel  Gale, 
of  Killingworth,  now  Clinton,  Connecticut,  and  grandson 
of  John  Gale,  of  Goshen,  New  York,  was  born  about  1768. 
His  mother,  Elizabeth  Gale,  was  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Benja- 
min Gale  (Yale  1733),  and  a  first  cousin  of  her  husband. 

About  the  date  of  his  graduation  his  father  removed  to 
Troy,  New  York,  where  Benjamin  Gale  spent  his  life  as 
a  merchant. 

He  died  in  Troy  in  1825,  aged  57  years. 


AUTHORITIES.      . 
Weise,  Hist,  of  Troy,  24.     Woodworth,  Reminiscences  of  Troy,  49. 


HEZEKIAH  GOODRICH,  the  eldest  child  of  Hezekiah 
Goodrich,  of  Chatham,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Ger shorn  and  Elizabeth  (Savage)  Goodrich,  of  Chatham, 
was  born  on  June  15,  1771.  His  mother  was  Submit, 
daughter  of  Elisha  and  Margery  (Wilcox)  Stocking,  of 
that  part  of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  which  is  now  Port- 
land. His  residence  while  in  College  was  in  Wethersfield, 
Connecticut. 

He  resided  in  Chatham,  but  a  part  of  his  life  was  spent 
in  Georgia. 

He  married  Milicent  Holcomb,  by  whom  he  had  four 
daughters  and  three  sons. 

He  died  on  April  20,  1854,  in  his  83d  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Case,  Goodrich  Family,  95,  165-66.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  227. 


ELIJAH  GRIDLEY,  the  third  child  of  Clement  and  Sarah 
(Hubbard)    Gridley,  of  Berlin  Society,   in  Farmington, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  601 

Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Samuel  Gridley,  was  born 
on  May  18,  1760,  and  appears  to  have  entered  College 
with  the  Class  of  1787,  but  his  course  was  interrupted  by 
poverty.  While  teaching  in  the  intervals  of  his  attend- 
ance at  Yale,  he  probably  studied  theology  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Cyprian  Strong  (Yale  1763),  of  Chatham,  Connecti- 
cut, as  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South 
Association  of  Ministers  in  June,  1788. 

On  April  8,  1789,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Mansfield,  Connecticut,  and  on  the 
29th  of  the  same  month  he  was  married  to  Ruth  White,  of 
Chatham,  the  youngest  sister  of  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Strong. 

His  people  soon  became  dissatisfied,  and  the  result  of 
this  feeling,  as  it  grew  in  the  Church  and  Society,  was 
his  dismission  in  July,  1796. 

In  May,  1797,  he  was  installed  over  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Granby,  Hampshire  County,  Massachusetts. 
In  1820  it  became  necessary  to  build  a  new  meeting-house, 
but  so  much  contention  arose  that  the  church,  which  then 
consisted  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-four  members,  was 
split  into  two  parts.  Mr.  Gridley  adhered  to  the  seceding 
portion,  comprising  one  hundred  and  thirty  members, 
which  constituted  the  West  or  Second  Parish  in  October, 
1821,  and  of  this  he  continued  the  pastor  until  his  death, 
in  Granby,  on  June  10,  1834,  at  the  age  of  74.  A  colleague 
had  been  settled  at  the  close  of  the  year  1830. 

His  widow  died  on  May  13,  1851,  in  her  84th  year. 
Their  children  were  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  The 
second  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1814,  and  followed 
his  father's  profession. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Chapman,  Coit  Family,  82.     Glid-  rials,   84.      Sprague,   Annals   of   the 

den,  Centennial  Discourse  at  Mans-  Amer.    Pulpit,    i,   653.     Pres.   Stiles, 

field,  31.     Holland,  Hist,  of  Western  Literary  Diary,  ii,  543. 
Mass.,  ii,  208.    Kellogg,  White  Memo- 


602  Yale  College 

PRINCE  BRIANT  HALL  was  born  in  Hebron,  Connecticut, 
on  August  15,  1767,  being  the  third  son  and  child  of  Amos 
and  Betty  (Briant)  Hall,  of  that  town. 

Soon  after  graduation  he  is  found  in  Cambridge, 
Lamoille  County,  Vermont,  which  he  represented  in  the 
General  Assembly  in  1792.  Removing  a  little  distance  to 
the  northwest,  he  settled  in  St.  Albans,  as  a  merchant,  in 
1796,  and  was  the  first  Sheriff  of  the  County,  serving  from 
1796  to  1804.  The  town  records  show  that  he  was  a 
citizen  of  considerable  prominence  within  the  dates  men- 
tioned, and  he  was  also  Brigadier-General  of  the  State 
Militia,  but  resigned  that  office  in  1803. 

At  this  date  he  was  in  serious  financial  difficulties,  and 
in  January,  1804,  he  was  imprisoned  for  debt. 

He  removed  in  1805  or  J8o6  to  the  Province  of  Quebec 
in  Canada,  and  is  said  to  have  died  about  1830  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Chaleurs  Bay. 

He  married  Abigail  Thatcher,  by  whom  he  had  one 
daughter,  who  was  born  in  St.  Albans  in  June,  1797,  and 
lived  to  maturity. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Walter  H.   Crockett,   MS.    Letter,      MS.  Letter,  Dec.  31,  1866. 
Apr.  13,  1906.     George  F.  Houghton, 


MOSES  HALLOCK,  younger  son  of  William  Hallock,  of 
Brookhaven,  Long  Island,  and  grandson  of  Noah  Hallock, 
of  Brookhaven,  was  born  in  Brookhaven,  on  February  16, 
1760.  His  mother  was  Alice  Homan,  of  Chilmark, 
Martha's  Vineyard. 

When  he  was  seven  years  old  his  father  experienced  a 
serious  loss  of  property  by  the  sinking  of  a  coasting-vessel, 
and  in  consequence  he  removed  to  Goshen,  in  Hampshire 
County,  Massachusetts. 

The  son  Moses  served  for  about  four  months,  in  1777 
and  1779,  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  603 

In  the  summer  of  1783  he  came  under  religious  impres- 
sions, and  in  consequence  turned  his  attention  to  the 
ministry.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Strong  (Yale  1749),  of  the  adjoining  town  of 
Williamsburg. 

Soon  after  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  theology 
with  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Whitman  (Harvard 
Coll.  1775),  and  was  licensed  to  preach  on  June  30,  1790. 

He  was  at  once  invited  to  supply  the  pulpit  in  the 
neighboring  town  of  Plainfield,  where  a  church  had  been 
organized  in  1786,  though  no  meeting-house  had  yet  been 
built  nor  any  pastor  settled. 

In  March,  1791,  he  received  a  unanimous  call  to  the 
pastorate  in  Plainfield,  but  declined  on  account  of  infirm 
health.  The  call  was  unanimously  renewed  in  March, 
1792,  with  a  salary  of  £60,  and  was  accepted.  He  was 
accordingly  ordained,  on  July  n,  and  the  substance  of  the 
discourse  preached  on  that  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Whitman  was  afterwards  published. 

His  pastorate  was  distinguished  by  a  remarkable  suc- 
cession of  revivals,  and  he  was  respected  and  beloved  by 
his  flock  and  by  the  neighboring  communities  to  an 
unusual  degree. 

To  relieve  his  extreme  poverty  he  received  pupils  in  his 
family  for  thirty  years,  and  more  than  three  hundred  boys 
and  girls  were  thus  fitted  for  College  and  for  active  life. 

In  March,  1829,  just  after  he  had  entered  on  his  seven- 
tieth year,  agreeable  to  a  purpose  formed  much  earlier,  he 
proposed  to  his  people  to  lay  down  his  office,  as  soon  as 
they  could  unite  on  another  minister.  In  accordance  with 
this  proposal,  the  Rev.  David  Kimball  (Yale  1818)  was 
settled  as  his  colleague  in  March,  1831,  but  he  retired  from 
his  work  in  January,  1835,  and  Mr.  Hallock  was  left  as 
sole  pastor. 

He  died  in  office,  after  three  or  four  days'  illness,  on  July 
17,  1837,  in  his  78th  year.  His  tombstone  characterizes 


604  Yale  College 

him  as  "a  man  of  patriarchal  simplicity,  integrity,  sin- 
cerity, kindness ;  without  an  enemy." 

He  married  on  September  12,  1799,  Margaret  (Peggy), 
daughter  of  Robert  and  Desire  (Norton)  Allen,  of  Chil- 
mark,  Martha's  Vineyard,  who  died  on  December  29, 1835, 
in  her  76th  year.  Their  children  were  four  sons  and  one 
daughter.  The  eldest  and  the  third  sons  were  graduated 
at  Williams  College  in  1819,  and  both  had  notable  careers 
in  New  York  City, — the  one  as  Secretary  of  the  American 
Tract  Society,  and  the  other' as  editor  of  the  Journal  of 
Commerce;  the  youngest  son  was  a  missionary  printer  in 
Malta  and  Smyrna. 

An  interesting  sketch  of  Mr.  Hallock's  life,  with  selec- 
tions from  his  correspondence,  by  his  eldest  son,  is 
appended  to  the  last  edition  of  the  life  of  his  elder  brother, 
the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Hallock,  by  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Yale. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Chilmark  Vital  Records,  II,  52.  26.  Porter,  Sketch  of  Plainfield,  30- 
Dyer,  Hist,  of  Plainfield,  32-36,  149-  36.  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer. 
55.  Hallock  Ancestry,  19.  Holland,  Pulpit,  ii,  310-16.  Yale,  Life  of  Jere- 
Hist.  of  Western  Mass.,  ii,  263-66.  miah  Hallock,  with  Sketch  of  Moses 
Magazine  of  Amer.  Hist.,  xvii,  224-  Hallock. 


Lucius  HUBBARD,  the  eighth  child  and  fourth  son  of 
Captain  Israel  Hubbard,  of  Sunderland,  Franklin  County, 
Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Isaac  and  Christian 
(Gunn)  Hubbard,  of  Sunderland,  was  born  on  May  28, 
1763.  His  mother  was  Abigail,  second  daughter  of 
Deacon  Nathaniel  and  Abigail  (Allis)  Smith,  of  Sunder- 
land. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  perhaps  in  Northfield, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  married,  on  November  3,  1793, 
Anna,  second  daughter  of  Shammah  Pomeroy,  a  sister  of 
the  wife  of  Obadiah  Dickinson  (Yale  1778). 

He  settled  for  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Chester, 
Windsor  County,  Vermont,  and  acquired  a  high  standing 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  605 

at  the  bar  for  legal  acumen  and  ready  wit.  He  was  also 
specially  interested  in  natural  science.  He  was  Sheriff 
of  the  County  in  1798.  His  extensive  practice  probably 
shortened  his  days,  as  he  died  in  Chester  on  June  6,  1808, 
at  the  early  age  of  45. 

His  children  were  four  daughters  and  two  sons.     The 
elder  son  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1824. 


AUTHORITIES. 

H.  P.  Hubbard,  Hubbard  History,      Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  141.     Tem- 
238-39.     Miss   Mary   Hubbard,   MS.       pie  and  Sheldon,  Hist,  of  Northfield, 
Letter,  Sept.  28,  1866.    /.  M.  Smith,      519. 
Hist,  of  Sunderland,  408,  412.    Pres. 


LYNDE  HUNTINGTON,  the  eldest  son  of  Oliver  Hunting- 
ton,  a  farmer  and  shoemaker  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut, 
and  nephew  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Huntington  (Yale  1743), 
was  born  in  Lebanon  on  March  22,  1767.  His  mother 
was  Anne,  sister  of  William  Lynde  (Yale  1760),  of  Say- 
brook,  Connecticut.  He  united  with  the  College  Church 
on  profession  of  his  faith  at  the  end  of  his  Sophomore 
year;  but  religious  doubts  delayed  for  some  time  his 
entrance  on  professional  study.  He  finally  studied  theol- 
ogy, and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Windham  Associa- 
tion of  Ministers  in  May,  1793. 

In  the  summer  of  1795  he  was  called  to  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  and  Society  in 
Branford,  Connecticut,  on  £95  salary,  and  he  was  there 
ordained  on  October  28  of  the  same  year. 

On  June  15,  1796,  he  married  Anna  (Williams),  the 
widow  of  his  predecessor,  the  Rev.  Jason  Atwater  (Yale 
1781),  who  died  in  June,  1794.  Their  children  were  two 
daughters  and  one  son.  Dr.  David  L.  Huntington  (Yale 
1855)  was  a  grandson. 

His  early  ministry  was  full  of  promise,  but  in  February, 
1804,  consumptive  symptoms  set  in,  which  terminated  his 
life  on  September  19,  1804,  in  his  38th  year. 


606  Yale  College 

His  widow  next  married  the  Rev.  Joseph  Barker  (Yale 
1771),  of  Middleborough,  Massachusetts,  and  died,  a 
widow,  in  Branford  on  May  15,  1832,  in  her  8ist  year. 

Mr.  Huntington's  talents  were  of  a  superior  order,  and 
he  pursued  his  labors  with  great  plainness  and  personal 
fidelity.  As  he  was  strongly  Calvinistic  in  his  doctrine, 
his  preaching  disturbed  some  of  his  hearers,  and  there 
were  consequently  some  secessions  from  the  Society.  He 
admitted  forty-eight  persons  to  the  church. 

After  his  death  some  of  his  manuscripts  were  printed 
in  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine: — in  volume  6 
(1806),  in  connection  with  a  brief  Memoir,  Extracts  from 
his  Diary  from  1786  to  1801 ;  and  in  volume  7  (1806), 
pp.  180-84,  An  Essay  on  the  Character  of  lukewarm 
Christians. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.    Evangelical    Magazine,    vi,       Colony    Hist.    Society's    Papers,    iv, 
258-68,  295-99.     T.  P.  Gillett,  Semi-       327-28.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 
Centennial   Discourse,    17-18.     Hunt-       iii,  237. 
ington    Family,     182,    664.       N.     H. 


GERSHOM  [CLARK]  HYDE,  the  third  son  of  Major  Elijah 
Hyde,  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Elijah 
and  Ruth  (Tracy)  Hyde,  of  Lebanon,  was  born  on  June 
30,  1768.  His  mother  was  Mary,  sister  of  Gershom  Clark 
(Yale  1743),  of  Lebanon. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine,  and  settled  in  his 
profession  in  Jericho,  now  Bainbridge,  Chenango  County, 
New  York. 

He  also  served  as  County  Judge. 

He  married  Jemima,  daughter  of  William  and  Suse 
Guthrie,  of  Woodbury,  Connecticut. 

They  had  two  sons,  one  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 

He  died  in  Bainbridge,  on  August  20,  1801,  in  his  34th 
year.  

AUTHORITIES. 
Dunn,  Guthrie  Family,  10,  15.     Wai-worth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i,  74,  262. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  607 


WILLIAM  JOHNSON  was  .born  in  Middletown,  Connecti- 
cut, on  December  17,  1769,  being  the  third  son  and  child  of 
Asahel  and  Eunice  Johnson.  His  mother  was  the  young- 
est daughter  of  Deacon  Caleb  and  Mary  Wetmore,  of 
Middletown. 

At  Commencement  in  1793  he  delivered  an  Oration 
before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  on  the  political  Situa- 
tion and  Prospects  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Nature 
and  Effects  of  national  Luxury  and  Vice, — the  manu- 
script of  which  is  preserved  in  the  Yale  Library. 

He  settled  in  New  York  City  as  a  lawyer,  and  in  1806 
was  appointed  Reporter  for  the  Supreme  Court.  He  pub- 
lished twenty  volumes  of  Reports  of  Cases  in  the  Supreme 
Court  and  Court  of  Errors,  from  February,  1806,  to 
February,  1823;  and  also  seven  volumes  of  Cases  of  the 
State  Court  of  Chancery,  from  February,  1814,  to  July, 
1823. 

In  1838  he  published  a  Digest  of  cases  decided  in  these 
courts  from  1799  to  J836. 

He  also  published  as  translator  the  following: 

The  Maritime  Law  of  Europe. — By  M.  D.  A.  Azuni.  Translated 
from  the  French.  New-York,  1806.  2  vols.  8°. 

His  work  as  reporter,  received  the  highest  encomiums. 
Judge  Story,  in  reviewing  volumes  1-3  of  his  Chancery 
Reports,  in  the  North  American  Review  for  July,  1820, 
says  of  him : 

He  is  a  gentleman  of  great  literary  accomplishments,  well 
instructed  in  the  law,  and  of  most  comprehensive  researches  .  .  His 
reports  are  distinguished  by  the  most  scrupulous  accuracy,  good 
sense  and  good  taste.  . .  No  lawyer  can  ever  express  a  better  wish 
for  his  country's  jurisprudence,  than  that  it  may  possess  such  a 
Chancellor  [as  Kent]  and  such  a  reporter. 

He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Hamil- 
ton College  in  1819  and  from  Princeton  in  1820. 


608  Yale  College 

He  was  a  devoted  member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church. 

He  died  in  New  York  City  on  June  25,  1848,  in  his  79th 
year. 

He  married,  on  June  17,  1809,  Maria,  daughter  of 
Oliver  and  Catharine  (Brownejohn)  Templeton,  of  New 
York  City,  who  died  in  July,  1854. 

Their  children  were  one  son,  who  was  graduated  at 
Columbia  College  in  1832,  and  three  daughters.  One 
daughter  married  Horace  Binney,  Jr.  (Yale  1828). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  637.     F.       Wetmore  Family,  485. 
F.  Starr,  MS.  Letter,  March  26,  1906. 


JAMES  LANMAN,  the  eldest  son  of  Peter  Lanman,  of 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  James  and  Joanna 
(Boylston)  Lanman,  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  was 
born  in  Norwich  on  June  14,  1767.  His  mother  was 
Sarah,  elder  daughter  of  Colonel  Samuel  and  Sarah 
(Spaulding)  Coit,  of  Preston,  Connecticut. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  having  been 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1791,  settled  as  a  lawyer  in  his  native 
town,  where  he  acquired  great  local  distinction  for  his 
eloquence  and  his  general  ability. 

He  was  State's  Attorney  for  New  London  County  from 
1814  to  1819,  and  in  1817  a  member  of  the  Lower  House 
of  the  State  Legislature.  In  1818  he  was  a  delegate  to 
and  Clerk  of  the  Convention  for  framing  a  Constitution 
for  Connecticut,  and  was  also  elected  to  the  State  Senate. 

In  1819  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  as  a 
Democrat,  serving  from  December,  1819,  to  March,  1825, 
and  voting  with  the  South  on  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

From  1826  to  1829  he  was  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Connecticut. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  609 

He  was  Mayor  of  Norwich  from  1831  to  1834. 

In  1833  he  was  again  a  Representative  in  the  General 
Assembly. 

He  died  in  Norwich  on  August  7,  1841,  in  his  75th  year. 

He  married  on  May  18,  1794,  Marian,  second  daughter 
of  Judge  Charles  Church  and  Marian  (Griswold)  Chand- 
ler, of  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  who  died  on  September  7, 
1817,  in  her  44th  year.  He  next  married  Mary  Judith, 
widow  of  Park  Benjamin,  a  leading  merchant  of 
Demerara,  British  Guiana,  with  four  children,  one  of 
whom  was  Park  Benjamin,  the  journalist  and  poet.  She 
died  in  Norwich  on  February  12,  1848,  in  her  7Oth  year, — 
the  result  of  her  clothing  taking  fire  from  a  grate. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  four  sons  and  eight  daugh- 
ters. His  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1814.  One 
daughter  married  Dr.  Daniel  T.  Coit  (Yale  1825),  another 
married  the  Hon.  LaFayette  S.  Foster  (Brown  Univ. 
1828),  and  a  third  married  the  Rev.  Luther  H.  Angier 
(Amherst  Coll.  1833). 

He  published: 

An  Oration,  pronounced  on  the  Twenty-second  Anniversary  of 
American  Independence,  before  the  Citizens  of  Norwich.  Norwich, 
1798.  16°,  pp.  22.  [N.  Y.  H.  S. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Appletons'    Cyclopaedia    of    Amer.      2cl  ed.,  282,  503-05.     Talcott,  Genea- 
Biography,  iii,  613.      Caulkins,  Hist.       logical  Notes,  571-74. 
of  Norwich,  626.      Chandler  Family, 


CHARLES  LATHROP,  son  of  Azariah  Lathrop  of  Nor- 
wich, Connecticut,  was  born  in  Norwich  on  January  n, 
1770.  His  elder  brother  was  graduated  in  the  preceding 
Class.  • 

He  spent  his  life  in  Norwich,  in  the  practice  of  the  law. 
He  was  also  for  twenty-one  years  Clerk  of  the  Superior 
and  County  Courts. 

39 


6 io  Yale  College 

He  was  a  Deacon  in  the  First  Congregational  Church 
from  1824  until  his  death. 

He  died  in  Norwich  on  January  17,  1831,  aged  61  years. 

He  married  Joanna  Leffingwell,  of  Norwich,  a  sister  of 
William  Leffingwell  (Yale  1786),  who  died  in  New  York 
City,  at  the  house  of  her  daughter,  on  May  15,  1851,  in 
her  8oth  year. 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  five  daughters.  The 
eldest  son  died  while  a  Senior  at  Yale,  and  the  youngest 
son  was  a  clergyman.  The  eldest  daughter  married  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Miron  Winslow  (Middlebury  College  1815) ;  the 
second  daughter  married  the  eldest  son  of  her  father's 
classmate  Hallock;  the  fourth  daughter  married  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Hutchings  (Williams  Coll.  1828)  ;  and  the  young- 
est married  the  Rev.  John  McC.  S.  Perry  (Yale  1827). 
All  married  ministers,  and  all  but  one  missionaries. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Huntington,  Lathrop   Family   Me-      81-83.    Perkins,  Old  Houses  of  Nor- 
moir,    108.      Leffingwell   Record,   59,      wich,  i,  79,  83,  341,  511. 


DANIEL  WADSWORTH  LEWIS,  the  eldest  child  of  Thomas 
Lewis,  and  grandson  of  Elisha  Lewis,  of  Farmington, 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Farmington  on  November  25, 
1766.  His  mother  was  Sarah  Guernsey,  of  Durham, 
Connecticut. 

He  studied  law  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  settled 
there  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  marrying  on  July 
25,  1791,  Elizabeth,  eldest  child  of  John  and  Lydia  (Buell) 
Collins,  who  was  born  in  Litchfield  on  August  5,  1766. 

He  was  State's  Attorney  for  Litchfield  County,  but 
removed  in  1800  to  Geneva,  New  York,  and  thence  to 
Buffalo,  where  he  died  on  June  19,  1837,  in  his  7ist  year. 

His  wife  died  in  Geneva.  Their  children  were  two 
sons,  both  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 

He  published: 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  611 

An  Oration  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Eli  Kelsey,  a  Senior  in  Yale- 
College.    New-Haven,  1788.    8°,  pp.  n. 

[B.  Ath.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 

One  interesting  local  reference  is  to  the  dust  of  one  of  the  Regi- 
cides (Dixwell)  on  the  New  Haven  Green. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Lewisiana,    v,     134.     Pres.    Stiles,      Genealogical    Register    of    Litchfield, 
Literary  Diary,  iii,  319.      Woodruff,       63,  132. 


JEREMIAH  MASON,  probably  the  ablest  lawyer  that  ever 
practiced  in  New  England,  was  born  in  Goshen  Society, 
in  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  on  April  27,  1768.  He  was  the 
sixth  of  nine  children  of  Colonel  Jeremiah  Mason,  a 
Revolutionary  officer,  and  grandson  of  Deacon  Jeremiah 
and  Mary  (Clark)  Mason,  of  Norwich  West  Farms,  now 
Franklin,  Connecticut.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  James  Fitch,  of  Lebanon.  He  was  fitted  for  Col- 
lege at  the  famous  school  of  Master  Nathan  Tisdale 
(Harvard  1749),  of  Lebanon. 

Before  graduation  he  had  resolved  to  study  law,  and 
his  first  design  was  to  settle  in  Albany,  but  by  his  father's 
desire  he  remained  in  New  Haven,  and  read  law  in  the 
office  of  Simeon  Baldwin  (Yale  1781).  A  year  later, 
having  become  convinced  that  the  profession  was  here 
overcrowded,  he  emigrated  to  Westminster,  Vermont, 
and  entered  the  office  of  General  Stephen  Rowe  Bradley 
(Yale  1775). 

He  was  admitted  to  the  Vermont  bar  in  June,  1791,  and 
in  September  settled  in  practice  in  the  town  of  Westmore- 
land, in  the  southwestern  part  of  New  Hampshire.  His 
success  there  was  gratifying,  but  he  found  himself  without 
society,  and  this  led  to  his  removal,  late  in  the  fall  of  1794, 
to  Walpole,  six  miles  northwards.  His  business  still 
increased,  but  the  most  of  it  was  of  a  small  kind,  owing 
to  the  comparative  poverty  of  the  people ;  and  feeling  the 


6 12  Yale  College 

need  of  a  broader  field  he  removed  again,  in  the  summer 
of  1797,  to  Portsmouth,  the  wealthiest  and  most  important 
town  in  the  State,  where  he  was  likely  to  come  into  com- 
petition with  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Boston  bar. 

He  was  fully  employed  from  the  moment  of  his  removal, 
and  from  this  time  dates  his  leading  position  at  the  bar  of 
the  State. 

In  1802  he  was  appointed  Attorney  General  of  New 
Hampshire,  but  resigned  the  post  after  three  or  four  years. 

In  the  spring  of  1813  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate  as  a  Federalist,  but  he  resigned  his  seat,  in  June, 
1817,  to  resume  legal  practice.  He  had  already,  in 
August,  1816,  declined  the  post  of  Chief  Justice  of  the 
highest  court  of  New  Hampshire. 

In  1820,  much  to  his  surprise  (the  Democrats  being  a 
majority  in  the  town),  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
State  House  of  Representatives  from  Portsmouth;  and 
used  the  opportunity  to  effect  some  needed  reforms  in  the 
judiciary  system,  as  well  as  to  put  the  State  on  record  in 
matters  of  national  politics.  He  was  re-elected  in  1821, 
and  for  the  last  time  in  1824. 

In  December,  1824,  he  was  a  candidate  for  re-election 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  but  failed  of  success  by  a 
single  vote. 

In  the  summer  of  1828  he  was  chosen  president  of  the 
Branch  Bank  of  the  United  States  at  Portsmouth,  and  he 
retained  the  office  until  his  removal,  early  in  1832,  to 
Boston.  For  many  years  the  prosperity  of  Portsmouth 
had  been  stationary,  if  not  declining,  and  there  was  every 
prospect  that  Mr.  Mason's  professional  life  would  be  less 
laborious  and  at  the  same  time  more  lucrative  in  Boston. 

In  1838,  on  completing  his  seventieth  year,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  resolution  formed  long  before,  he  retired  from 
active  practice  in  the  courts,  and  thenceforth  confined  him- 
self to  the  duties  of  chamber  counsel,  which  furnished  all 
the  professional  employment  he  desired. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1/88  613 

He  died  in  Boston,  after  an  illness  of  a  few  days,  from 
paralysis,  terminating  in  apoplexy,  on  October  14,  1848, 
in  the  8ist  year  of  his  age. 

He  married,  on  November  6,  1799,  Mary,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Colonel  Robert  and  Mary  (McGregore)  Means,  of 
Amherst,  New  Hampshire,  who  died  in  Boston  on  April 
10,  1858,  in  her  8ist  year. 

Their  children  were  five  sons  and  three  daughters;  two 
sons  died  before  him.  The  first  and  second  sons  were 
graduates  of  Bowdoin  College,  in  1819  and  1825  respec- 
tively; and  the  youngest  son  of  Harvard,  in  1832. 

Mr.  Mason  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws  from  Bowdoin  College  in  1815,  from  Harvard  in 
1817,  and  from  Dartmouth  in  1823. 

A  Memoir  of  his  life,  by  George  S.  Hillard,  was 
privately  printed  in  1873;  it  includes  an  interesting 
Autobiography,  covering  the  first  twenty-nine  years  of 
his  life,  and  also  generous  selections  from  his  private 
correspondence. 

His  height  was  six  feet  six  inches,  and  his  bulk  propor- 
tioned to  his  height.  Engravings  from  a  portrait  and  also 
from  a  bust  are  given  in  articles  contributed  to  the  Green 
Bag,  volumes  i  and  12. 

Daniel  Webster  wrote  thus,  in  his  Autobiography, 
twenty  years  before  Mr.  Mason's  death : 

If  there  be  in  the  country  a  stronger  intellect  than  Mr.  Mason; 
if  there  be  a  mind  of  more  native  resources ;  if  there  be  a  vision 
that  sees  quicker,  or  sees  deeper  into  whatever  is  intricate,  or  what- 
soever is  profound,  I  must  confess  I  have  not  known  it.  I  have 
not  written  this  paragraph  without  considering  what  it  implies.  I 
look  to  that  individual  [Chief-Justice  Marshall]  who,  if  it  belong 
to  anybody,  is  entitled  to  be  an  exception.  But  I  deliberately  let 
the  judgment  stand.  That  that  individual  has  much  more  habit  of 
regular  composition,  that  he  has  been  disciplined  and  exercised 
in  a  vastly  superior  school,  that  he  possesses  even  a  faculty  of  illus- 
tration more  various  and  more  easy,  I  think  may  be  admitted.  That 
the  original  reach  of  his  mind  is  greater,  that  its  grasp  is  stronger, 
that  its  logic  is  closer,  I  do  not  allow. 


6 14  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Ancestry,  v,  115.  Bell,  Webster,  56-74.  Hillard,  Memoir  of 
Bench  and  Bar  of  N.  Hampshire,  J.  Mason.  Secomb,  Hist,  of  Amherst, 
502-07.  Green  Bag,  i,  461-63;  xii,  N.  H.,  689.  Woodward,  Hist,  of 
497-500.  Harvey,  Reminiscences  of  Franklin,  86-87. 


ISAAC  PORTER,,  son  of  Timothy  Porter,  and  grandson 
of  Ebenezer  Porter,  of  Farmington,  Connecticut,  was  born 
in  Farmington  on  August  I,  1766.  His  mother  was 
Hannah,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Beckwith) 
Andrews. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation,  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Smalley  (Yale  1756),  of  New  Britain,  Connecticut, 
and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South  Associa- 
tion of  Ministers  on  June  I,  1790. 

After  several  years  of  miscellaneous  preaching,  he  was 
ordained  on  June  25,  1794,  pastor  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  and  Society  in  Salmon  Brook  village, 
Granby,  Connecticut. 

On  the  2oth  of  the  following  October  he  married  Mary, 
eldest  surviving  daughter  of  his  teacher,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Smalley. 

His  ministry  in  Granby  ended  with  his  dismission  on 
December  26,  1832,  but  he  continued  to  reside  in  the  village 
of  North  Granby,  where  he  died  on  April  14,  1844,  in  his 
78th  year. 

His  widow  returned  to  her  native  town,  where  she  died 
on  December  19,  1846,  at  the  age  of  80. 

Mr.  Porter's  long  ministry  in  Granby  was  full  of  dif- 
ficulties. He  seems  to  have  been  a  strict  disciplinarian, 
and  ruled  his  congregation  with  a  rod  of  iron,  even  dis- 
ciplining church-members  for  absence  from  church  service. 

After  his  dismissal  he  lost  his  property,  and  was 
dependent  for  support  on  individual  generosity. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,    New    Britain,    80,    133.       Trumbull,  Memorial  Hist,  of  Hart- 
Phelps,  Hist,  of  Simsbury,  etc.,  107.      ford  County,  ii,  231-32. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  615 

JOHN  SALTER,  the  eldest  child  of  'Squire  John  Salter, 
of  Mansfield,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  John  and 
Abigail  (Durant)  Salter,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  was 
born  in  Mansfield  on  June  18,  1769.  His  mother  was 
Christian,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Solomon  Williams 
(Harvard  1719),  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  and  sister  of 
Eliphalet  and  Solomon  Williams  (Yale  1743)  ;  an  elder 
sister  was  the  wife  of  'Squire  Salter's  brother,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Richard  Salter  (Harvard  1739),  of  Mansfield. 

He  settled  as  a  lawyer  in  his  native  town,  but  was  chiefly 
occupied  by  the  cares  of  a  large  farm  and  the  duties  of 
numerous  town  and  State  offices.  He  represented  Mans- 
field in  nine  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly  between 
1798  and  1816,  was  Colonel  of  a  regiment  stationed  at  New 
London  during  the  War  of  1812,  and  subsequently  Major- 
General  of  the  State  Militia. 

He  died  in  Mansfield  on  June  6,  1831,  aged  62  years. 

He  married,  on  May  7,  1789,  his  first  cousin,  Mary, 
fourth  daughter  of  Sheriff  Ezekiel  Williams,  of  Wethers- 
field,  Connecticut,  and  sister  of  John  Williams  (Yale 
1781),  Ezekiel  Williams  (Yale  1785),  etc.  She  is  remem- 
bered as  a  woman  of  rare  symmetry  of  character,  of  calm, 
even  temperament,  and  most  devoted  piety.  She  died  on 
November  25,  1850,  in  her  82d  year. 

Their  children  were  nine  daughters  and  three  sons. 
The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1818; 
the  second  at  the  Yale  Medical  School  in  1831;  and  the 
third  at  Rutgers  College  in  1832. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dimock,   Mansfield    Records,    152-       field,  ii,  817.    Stoddard  Family,  1865, 
53,  276, 432.     Stiles,  Hist,  of  Wethers-       79.    Williams  Family,  172,  179. 


WILLIAM  SHELTON,  the  second  son  and  child  of  William 
Shelton,  a  farmer  of  Long  Hill,  in  Trumbull,  then  part 
of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Joseph  and 


616  Yale  College 

Mary  (Hollister)  Shelton,  of  Long  Hill,  was  born  on 
March  3,  1767.  His  mother  was  Susannah,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Susannah  (Thompson)  Strong,  of  Setauket, 
Long  Island. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Eneas 
Munson  (Yale  1753),  of  New  Haven,  and  Dr.  William 
A.  Tomlinson,  of  Stratford,  and  was  licensed  as  a  physi- 
cian and  surgeon  in  1790.  He  began  practice  in  Trum- 
bull,  but  in  1802  removed  to  the  adjoining  town  of 
Huntington.  The  honorary  degree  of  M.D.  was  con- 
ferred on  him  at  Yale  in  1817.  He  was  talented  and 
skilful  in  his  profession,  and  had  a  useful  and  successful 
career. 

He  died  of  typhus  fever  in  Huntington,  on  August  20, 
1819,  in  his  53d  year.  An  Address  delivered  at  his  fun- 
eral by  the  Rev.  Menzies  Rayner,  Rector  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Huntington,  was  printed  in  a  Church  periodical 
soon  after. 

He  married  in  1789  Catharine  (or  Katy),  youngest 
daughter  of  Captain  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Curtiss)  Tom- 
linson, of  Huntington.  She  died  on  July  14,  1858,  in  her 
88th  year. 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  three  daughters; 
two  of  the  sons  followed  their  father's  profession. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Churchman's   Magazine    (1822),   ii,       Stratford,   ii,   984,    1280;    Tomlinson 
45-47.     Conn.  Medical  Society's  Pro-      Family,  49.      Reunion  of  Descendants 
ceedings,  1853,  48-49.  .  Dwight,  Strong      of  Daniel  Shelton,  49,  51-52. 
Family,  i,  640,  642.     Orcutt,  Hist,  of 


ELNATHAN  SMITH,  Junior,  was  the  eldest  child  of 
Elnathan  Smith,  a  wealthy  merchant  and  prominent  resi- 
dent in  what  is  now  New  Britain  (then  part  of  Farmington 
and  later  of  Berlin),  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Joseph 
Smith,  of  New  Britain.  His  mother  was  Chloe,  daughter 
of  Isaac  and  Tabitha  (Norton)  Lee. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  617 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  settled  in  practice 
in  his  native  village. 

He  died  in  Berlin,  of  consumption,  on  February  23, 
1801,  aged  33  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Conn.  Courant,  March  2,  1801. 


JOSHUA  STANTON,  Junior,  the  only  son  of  Captain 
Joshua  Stanton,  of  Colchester,  Vermont,  and  Salisbury, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Elijah  and  Eliza  (Whiting) 
Stanton,  of  Preston,  Connecticut,  and  Great  Barrington, 
Massachusetts,  was  born  in  Salisbury,  on  February  19, 
1770.  His  only  sister  married  the  Rev.  Chauncey  Lee 
(Yale  1784). 

He  lived  in  Colchester  for  some  years  after  graduation, 
and  was  town-clerk  for  four  years  (1793-97),  and  for  two 
years  (1796-97)  a  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  of  which 
his  father  was  Chief  Judge.  He  also  represented  the  town 
in  the  General  Assembly  four  or  five  times  between  1795 
and  1803.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  benefactor  of  the 
University  of  Vermont,  at  Burlington,  which  was  founded 
in  1791. 

He  returned  later  to  Salisbury,  and  died  there  on  Octo- 
ber 28,  1806,  in  his  37th  year. 

He  married,  on  October  6,  1803,  Eunice,  daughter  of 
Colonel  Joshua  Porter  (Yale  1754),  of  Salisbury,  and 
divorced  wife  of  the  Hon.  John  Bird  (Yale  1786),  of  Troy, 
New  York.  They  had  one  daughter  and  one  son,  both  of 
whom  died  in  infancy. 

She  next  married  Colonel  Albert  Pawling,  of  Troy,  in 
1812,  and  died  in  1848,  in  her  82d  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Descendants  of  Col.  Joshua  Porter,       Inscriptions,  14.    Stanton  Record,  172, 
16-17.      Hemenway,    Vt.    Historical      252-53. 
Gazetteer,    i,   763.      Rudd,    Salisbury 


6i8  Yale  College 

DANIEL  STEBBINS,  the  eldest  child  of  Joseph  Stebbins, 
of  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Joseph  and 
Mary  (Stebbins)  Stebbins,  of  Springfield,  was  born  on 
April  2,  1766.  His  mother  was  Eunice,  youngest  daugh- 
ter of  Isaac  and  Mary  (Bliss)  Brewer,  of  Wilbraham, 
Massachusetts. 

He  became  a  physician  and  settled  at  first  in  Long- 
meadow,  Massachusetts,  where  he  was  also  town-clerk. 
He  removed  in  1793  to  South  Hadley,  and  in  1806  retired 
to  Northampton,  finding  the  exposure  of  a  country  physi- 
cian's life  too  irksome. 

On  the  division  of  the  old  County  of  Hampshire  in 
1811-12,  he  was  elected  County  Treasurer,  and  continued 
to  hold  that  office  by  annual  popular  re-elections  without 
opposition  for  thirty-five  years,  or  until  his  resignation  on 
account  of  ill-health.  His  remaining  years  were  years  of 
great  feebleness. 

He  was  a  man  of  integrity  and  piety,  of  diligent  atten- 
tion to  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  of  persevering  industry. 

He  died  in  Northampton  on  October  7,  1856,  aged  9054 
years. 

He  married,  on  May  22,  1791,  his  first  cousin,  Clarissa, 
daughter  of  Jeremiah  and  Mary  (Brewer)  Snow,  of 
Springfield,  who  died,  childless,  on  February  26,  1820, 
aged  53  years.  He  next  married  in  February,  1821, 
Elizabeth  Gerrish,  daughter  of  Captain  Enoch  and  Rachel 
Knapp,  of  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  and  widow  of 
Charles  Long,  of  Newburyport  (who  died  in  January, 
1816).  She  had  one  daughter  and  one  son  by  her  former 
marriage,  and  one  son  and  two  daughters  by  Dr.  Stebbins. 
She  died  on  October  19,  1853,  aged  about  63  years. 

Dr.  Stebbins  was  much  interested  in  genealogical  and 
antiquarian  matters,  and  he  printed  in  the  New  England 
Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  for  1851  (vol.  5, 
pp.  71-78,  351-54),  a  Memoir  of  the  Stebbins  Family. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  619 

Three  letters  of  his  on  antiquarian  subjects  are  printed  in 
the  American  Pioneer,  vol.  i,  1842,  pp.  339-40,  401-05, 

424-25-  " 

AUTHORITIES. 

Clark,  Antiquities  of  Northampton,  Greenlee,  Stebbins  Genealogy,  i,  264, 
346.  Dwight,  Dwight  Family,  ii,  399-400.  N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal. 
789-90;  Strong  Family,  ii,  1283-84.  Register,  v,  73,  76. 


NATHANIEL  STEELE,  the  seventh  in  a  family  of  fifteen 
children  of  Elisha  Steele,  of  Bethlehem,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Lieutenant  John  and  Mary  (Newell)  Steele, 
of  Farmington  and  Bethlehem,  was  born  on  July  17,  1770. 
His  mother  was  Susannah,  eldest  daughter  of  Deacon 
Samuel  and  Susannah  (Brace)  Strong,  of  Litchfield  and 
Bethlehem.  His  youngest  brother  was  graduated  at  Yale 
in  1811. 

He  probably  studied  theology  after  graduation. 

When  Williams  College,  at  Williamstown,  Massachu- 
setts, was  incorporated  in  June,  1793,  Mr.  Steele  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  Academy  or  grammar-school, 
which  was  a  part  of  the  scheme,  and  he  retained  that 
position  probably  for  two  years.  The  honorary  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  was  conferred  on  him  by  Williams  College 
in  1795. 

On  leaving  Williamstown  he  was  sent  as  a  missionary 
through  Western  New  York,  but  while  thus  engaged  he 
contracted  a  fever,  from  which  he  died  at  the  house  of 
his  brother  Elisha,  in  East  Bloomfield,  New  York,  on 
September  22,  1795,  in  his  26th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Durrie,  Steele  Family,  19.     Dwight,       Williams    College    Centennial    Anni- 
Strong  Family,  ii,   1429.      Henry  T.       versary,  229. 
Steele,    MS.    Letter,    Apr.    6,    1889. 


620  Yale  College 

JOSEPH  STRONG,  the  eldest  child  of  Deacon  Benajah 
Strong,  of  Coventry,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Cap- 
tain Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Strong)  Strong,  of  Coventry, 
was  born  on  March  10,  1770.  His  mother  was  Lucy, 
daughter  of  Caleb  and  Keziah  (Hebard)  Bishop,  of 
Lisbon,  then  part  of  Norwich,  Connecticut.  He  entered 
College  at  the  opening  of  Junior  year. 

He  studied  medicine  after  graduation,  and  in  1792  was 
settled  in  Middletown,  Connecticut.  In  December,  1792, 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  War  Department  as  a 
surgeon,  and  continued  in  the  service  for  nearly  four 
years ;  during  most  of  this  time  he  was  stationed  at  Fort 
Washington  (now  in  Ohio,  then  in  the  Northwestern 
Territory),  in  charge  of  the  hospital  at  that  place  in  con- 
nection with  General  Wayne's  military  operations. 

In  1796  he  settled  in  Philadelphia  as  a  physician,  and 
married  Miss  Rebecca  Young,  of  that  city. 

He  is  also  said  to  have  practiced  for  a  time  in  Chillicothe, 
Ohio,  but  died  of  yellow  fever,  in  Philadelphia,  in  April, 
1812,  at  the  age  of  42. 

His  widow  died  at  the  residence  of  her  youngest  son  in 
Piqua,  Ohio,  on  June  2,  1862,  at  the  age  of  82. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  three  sons. 
The  eldest  son  was  educated  at  West  Point. 

Dr.  Strong  inxthe  early  years  after  graduation  was  inti- 
mate with  the  coterie  of  writers  known  as  the  "Hartford 
Wits,"  and  wrote  not  infrequently  for  the  press. 

He  was  also  distinguished  by  his  inventive  genius. 
Among  his  most  successful  inventions  was  a  tourniquet 
in  1800;  he  is  said  to  have  made  in  early  life  some 
mechanical  inventions  anticipating  the  principle  of  the 
bicycle. 

The  Yale  Library  has  a  portion  of  his  manuscript  cor- 
respondence with  his  intimate  friend,  Dr.  Mason  F.  Cogs- 
well (Yale  1780). 


Biographical  Sketches,  1/88  621 

AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.    Pioneer,    i,    404.      Dimock,       Strong  Family,  i,  414-16.    Pres.  Stiles, 
Coventry     Records,     112.      Dzvight,       Literary  Diary,  iii,  244. 


ZACHARIAH  TOMLINSON,  son  of  Captain  Beach  Tom- 
linson, of  Huntington,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Zachariah  and  Hannah  (Beach)  Tomlinson,  of  Stratford, 
was  born  on  May  14,  1768.  His  mother  was  Charity, 
daughter  of  Josiah  and  Eunice  (Nichols)  Shelton,  of  Long 
Hill,  in  Stratford. 

He  became  a  lawyer,  and  settled  in  Lansingburg,  New 
York,  where  he  died  early  in  the  year  1797,  in  his  2Qth 
year. 

A  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Sheldon  Dibble  (Hamilton 
College  1827),  a  missionary  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Orcutt,  Tomlinson  Genealogy,  54,  95.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  316. 


DANIEL  WALDO,  the  ninth  in  a  family  of  twelve  children 
of  Zacheus  Waldo,  of  Scotland  Parish,  in  Windham,  Con- 
necticut, and  grandson  of  Deacon  Edward  and  Thankful 
(Dimmock)  Waldo,  of  Scotland,  was  born  on  September 
10,  1762.  His  mother  was  Talitha,  daughter  of  Joseph 
and  Ruth  (Denison)  Kingsbury,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut. 

In  April,  1779,  he  was  drafted  into  a  company  of  Con- 
necticut Militia,  and  being  taken  prisoner  in  the  following 
December  was  detained  for  two  months  in  the  "Sugar 
House"  in  New  York  City.  After  his  release  he  returned 
to  his  father's  farm  and  remained  there  until  about  the 
age  of  twenty,  when  he  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  the 
ministry,  and  began  to  prepare  for  College  under  his  first 
cousin,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Backus,  of  Somers. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  for  one  year  with 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Levi  Hart,  of  Preston,  Connecticut,  and  was 


622  Yale  College 

licensed  to  preach  by  the  Windham  Association  of  Minis- 
ters on  October  13,  1789. 

After  preaching  for  brief  periods  in  several  Connecticut 
pulpits,  and  pursuing  further  theological  studies  with  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Perkins,  of  West  Hartford,  he  was 
ordained  on  May  23,  1792,  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  West  Suffield,  Connecticut,  where  he  remained 
(nominally)  until  December,  1809,  though  absent  for  part 
of  the  time  on  missionary  service;  his  withdrawal  was 
chiefly  due  to  the  delinquency  of  the  parish  in  paying  his 
salary. 

During  the  year  1810  he  preached  in  Westchester  (a 
parish  in  Colchester)  and  Salem,  Connecticut,  and  then 
went  to  Cambridgeport,  Massachusetts,  where  he  supplied 
the  pulpit  of  the  Congregational  Church  for  a  year. 

He  next  went,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Evangelical 
Missionary  Society,  to  Rhode  Island,  where  he  labored 
for  most  of  the  time  until  1820.  After  brief  periods  of 
service  elsewhere,  in  September,  1823,  he  became  the 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Exeter,  a  parish  of 
Lebanon,  Connecticut,  on  a  salary  of  $300,  and  continued 
there  until  September,  1834,  when  he  resigned  on  account 
of  the  inability  of  the  parish  to  support  him. 

In  1835  he  followed  one  of  his  sons  to  a  farm  in  Rose, 
Wayne  County,  New  York,  and  his  residence  continued  in 
that  State  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  was  not  again 
settled  over  any  church,  but  was  employed  as  supply  in 
various  places,  and  from  1843  to  1846  was  stationed  as  a 
missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Victory,  Cayuga 
County. 

In  1846  he  removed  to  Geddes,  in  Onondaga  County,  and 
in  1856  the  family  again  removed  to  Syracuse.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1856,  when  in  his  95th  year,  he  was  chosen  Chaplain 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington,  and  was 
re-elected  the  next  year.  His  last  sermon  was  preached 
in  Jordan,  near  Syracuse,  after  he  had  entered  his  iO2d 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  623 

year.  He  enjoyed  comfortable  health  until  he  fell  down 
stairs,  at  his  home  in  Syracuse,  early  in  July,  1864.  He 
died  from  the  shock,  on  July  30,  aged  101  years,  10  months 
and  20  days. 

An  engraving,  representing  him  in  extreme  old  age, 
is  given  in  the  Waldo  Genealogy. 

He  married,  on  September  14,  1795,  in  Suffield,  Con- 
necticut, Nancy,  daughter  of  Captain  Oliver  and  Rachel 
(Gillett)  Hanchett,  of  Suffield.  She  died  in  Syracuse  in 
1855,  aged  78  years,  having  been  insane  for  nearly  fifty 
years. 

Their  children  were  five  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1818,  and  died  while 
studying  theology.  The  other  sons  survived  their  father. 

As  a  preacher  Mr.  Waldo  was  luminous,  direct,  and 
eminently  practical.  His  mind  was  sound  and  well-bal- 
anced, and  his  spirit  eminently  kind  and  genial.  He  is 
represented  as  having  been  one  of  the  most  contented  of 
mortals. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Hist.  Record,  ii,  533.    His-  xix,  84-85.     N.  Y.  Observer,  Sept.  19, 

torical  Magazine,  viii,  347.    Johnston,  1861.     Notes  and  Queries,  4th  series, 

Yale  in  the  Revolution,  348-49.    Lin-  ix,  323-24.     Roe,  Rose  Neighborhood 

coin,  Waldo  Genealogy,  i,   143,  256-  Sketches,  74-75.    Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 

58.     N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,  ary  Diary,  iii,  450. 


JOHN  WOODWORTH  was  born  on  November  12,  1768, 
in  Schodack,  New  York.  His  father,  Robert  Woodworth, 
was  a  son  of  Daniel  and  Sarah  (Collins)  Woodworth,  of 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  and  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  and  State  Senator  in  Rensselaer  County,  New 
York;  his  mother  was  Rachel,  daughter  of  Abel  Fitch, 
of  Schodack.  He  was  prepared  for  College  in  Albany 
by  John  Lovett  (Yale  1782),  and  delivered  the  Latin 
Salutatory  Oration  at  graduation.  He  won  the  Berkeley 


624  Yale  College 

Scholarship,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  returned  to  New 
Haven  to  reside. 

He  studied  law  in  Albany  with  the  Hon.  John  Lansing, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  July,  1791.  He  then 
removed  to  the  new  village  of  Troy,  and  began  practice. 
In  June,  1793,  he  was  appointed  County  Surrogate,  and  so 
continued  until  he  became  Attorney  General  of  the  State 
in  February,  1804.  In  the  meantime  he  had  served  as 
Presidential  Elector  in  1800,  and  as  a  member  of  the  State 
Assembly  in  1803. 

From  January,  1804,  to  April,  1807,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  State  Senate. 

In  1806  he  removed  his  residence  to  Albany.  He  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  office  of  Attorney  General  until  the  last 
of  March,  1808. 

In  1811  he  was  appointed  in  conjunction  with  William 
P.  Van  Ness  to  revise  the  laws  of  the  State,  and  the  result 
of  their  labors  was  published  in  two  volumes  in  1813.  He 
served  again  as  Presidential  Elector  in  1812;  and  in 
March,  1813,  was  made  a  Regent  of  the  State  University. 

On  March  27,  1819,  he  was  appointed  a  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  contiriued  in  office  until 
November,  1828,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  sixty — 
the  limit  allowed  by  the  constitution. 

He  then  resumed  practice,  and  retained  both  his  physical 
and  mental  faculties  in  full  vigor  to  the  end.  He  died  in 
Albany,  after  a  few  weeks'  illness,  on  June  I,  1858,  in  his 
9Oth  year. 

He  married  Catharine,  elder  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Eilardus  Westerlo,  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
in  Albany, -who  died  on  September  27,  1846,  aged  68  years. 

Judge  Woodworth  "was  of  large  and  portly  presence, 
with  light  eyes  and  complexion,  and  a  countenance  expres- 
sive of  cheerfulness  and  benignity.  He  was  very  easy  of 
approach,  his  manner  affable,  and  conversation  agreeable 
and  fluent/1 


Biographical  Sketches,  1788  625 

He  published: 

Reminiscences  of  Troy,  from  its  Settlement  in  1790,  to  1807  . . 
Albany,  1853.     8°,  pp.  39-  [Y.C. 

After  his  death  a  second  edition  appeared,  with  notes.    Albany, 
1860.    sq.  8°,  pp.  iv,  112.  [Y.C. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Descendants  of  Walter  Woodworth,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  316,  328.  Wood- 
80-81.  Pearson,  Genealogies  of  First  -worth,  Reminiscences  of  Troy,  2d  ed., 
Settlers  of  Albany,  150.  Pres.  Stiles,  29-31. 


40 


626  Yale  College 


Annals,    1788-89 


An  unprecedented  mortality  prevailed  during  this  year 
in  the  tutorial  office.  Tutor  Denison  had  gone  home  ill 
in  the  previous  July,  and  in  December  sailed  on  account  of 
his  health  for  Georgia,  where  he  died  in  August,  1789. 
Mr.  Roger  Newton,  Junior  (Y.  C.  1785),  entered  on  the 
tutorship  at  the  beginning  of  this  year,  but  went  home  in 
a  feeble  condition  in  May,  and  died  there  in  August,  eleven 
days  before  Tutor  Denison. 

Amos  Bassett  (Y.  C.  1784)  entered  on  the  duties  of 
Tutor  in  June,  1789. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  627 


Sketches,   Class  of  1789 


*Dan  Bradley  "1838 

*Joel  Bradley,  A.M.  *i823 

*Guilielmus  Brown,  A.M.  *i854 

*Daniel  Chapman  *i8oo 

*  Salmon  Cone,  A.M.  "1834 
*Aegidius  Hooker  Cowles,  A.M.,  S.T.D.  Guilielm. 

1823  "1835 

*Elkana  Doolittle  *i835 

*  Jonathan  Gualterus  Edwards,  A.M.,  Tutor  *i83i 
*Nathan  Elliot,  A.M.  "1828 
*Guilielmus  Gay,  A.M.  "1844 
*Lee  Hall 

*Rufus  Harvey  "1817 

*Cyrus  Hinman  *i8oo 

*Asahel  Hooker,  A.M.  1804  *i8i3 

*  Jonathan  Huntington  *i848 
*Dorancius  Kirtland,  e  Congr.  *i84O 
*Petrus  Schuyler  Livingston,  et  Columb.  1788  et 

Neo-Caes.  1788  et  Harv.  1790,  A.M.  Columb.  "1809 

*Silas  Merriman  *J79i 
*Asahel  Morris,  A.M.  1795 
* Jonathan  Osborn,  A.M. 

* Jonathan  Osgood,  A.M.  .  *i8i2 

*Elija  Paine  *i846 
^Johannes    Thompson   Peters,    Reip.    Conn.    Cur. 

Supr.  Jurid.  *i834 

*Stephanus  Pynchon,  A.M.  •  *i823 

*Guilielmus  Augustus  Reynolds  *J794 
*Johannes  Stearns,  A.M.,  M.D.  Coll.  Med.  et  Chir. 

Nov.  Ebor.  1812,  in  Coll.  Med.  et  Chir.  Jurisd. 


628  Yale  College 

Occid.  Nov.  Ebor.  Med.  Theor.  et  Prax.  Prof., 

Soc.  Med.  N.  Ebor.  Praeses  "1848 

*  Jacobus  Thompson  "1844 

*Uri  Tracy,  e  Congr.  *i838 

* Aaron  Woodward,  A.M.  *i84O 

*Israel  Beard  Woodward,  A.M.  *i8io 


DAN  BRADLEY,  son  of  Jabez  Bradley,  of  Mount  Carmel 
Society,  in  Hamden,  then  part  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
and  grandson  of  Daniel  and  Abigail  (Punchard)  Bradley, 
of  Hamden,  was  born  on  June  10,  1767.  His  mother  was 
Esther  Beach,  of  Wallingford,  Connecticut.  At  gradua- 
tion he  won  the  Berkeley  Scholarship. 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  after  graduation,  and 
studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards. 
He  was  admitted  to  membership  in  the  College  Church  on 
profession 'of  faith  on  July  4,  1790,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  New  Haven  West  Association  of  Ministers 
on  the  28th  of  the  following  September. 

After  his  licensure  he  probably  supplied  the  vacant 
pulpit  in  his  native  parish,  until  he  received  a  call  to  a  Con- 
gregational Church  in  the  present  township  of  New  Hart- 
ford (then  part  of  Whitestown),  Oneida  County,  New 
York.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Edwards  had  visited  that  region  in 
the  summer  of  1791,  and  on  his  recommendation  the  first 
Congregational  Church  gathered  in  that  vicinity  called 
Mr.  Bradley.  He  accepted  the  call,  and  on  account  of  the 
lack  of  neighboring  ministers  he  was  ordained  in  Hamden 
on  January  n,  1792.  The  sermon  preached  on  the 
occasion  by  Dr.  Edwards  was  afterwards  published. 

His  tenure  of  the  pastoral  office  was  brief,  as  he  was 
dismissed  in  January,  1795.  In  September,  1795,  he 
removed  to  Marcellus,  in  Onondaga  County,  then  com- 
paratively a  wilderness,  and  entered  on  the  business  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  629 

farming,  becoming  later  a  notedly  skilful  and  scientific 
agriculturist. 

In  1 80 1  he  was  made  an  Associate  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  for  Onondaga  County.  In  June,  1807,  he 
was  advanced  to  the  Chief  Judgeship,  and  retained  that 
position  with  distinction  until  his  resignation  in  March, 
1811. 

He  died  at  his  residence  in  Marcellus,  on  September  19, 
1838,  in  his  72d  year. 

He  was  married  on  October  21,  1790,  by  the  Rev.  John 
Foot  to  Eunice,  second  daughter  of  John  and  Eunice 
(Eaton)  Beach,  of  Cheshire,  Connecticut,  by  whom  he  had 
two  daughters  and  three  sons.  She  died  in  Marcellus  on 
July  19,  1804,  in  her  38th  year. 

He  was  next  married  by  President  Dwight,  in  New 
Haven,  on  February  3,  1805,  to  Nancy  Rose,  of  New 
Haven,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter  and  three  sons. 
The  youngest  son  by  the  first  marriage  became  a  mis- 
sionary physician  in  Siam.  Professor  Cornelius  B. 
Bradley,  B.D.  Yale  1871,  is  a  grandson. 

Mrs.  Bradley  survived  her  husband,  and  died  of  con- 
sumption on  May  25,  1843,  m  ner  62d  year. 

Judge  Bradley  was  enthusiastically  interested  in  reduc- 
ing agriculture  to  a  Science,  and  was  selected  as  the  first 
President  of  the  Onondaga  County  Agricultural  Society, 
organized  in  1819.  He  wrote  extensively  for  agricultural 
periodicals,  especially  for  the  Genesee  Farmer  (established 
in  1831),  the  New  England  Farmer,  the  Baltimore 
Farmer,  and  the  Plough  Boy. 

He  also  contributed  largely  to  the  Transactions  of  the 
New  York  State  Agricultural  Society. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Ancestry,  viii,  145.  Pro-  1792.  Davis,  Hist,  of  Wallingford, 
fessor  C.B.Bradley,  MS.  Letter,  Dec.  645.  P.  Jones,  Annals  of  Oneida 
i,  1906.  /.  H.  V.  Clark,  Onondaga,  County,  275.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
ii,  296-300.  Conn.  Journal,  Jan.  18,  Diary,  iii,  353,  398,  431,  438. 


630  Yale  College 


JOEL  BRADLEY,  the  second  son  in  a  family  of  twelve 
children  of  Joel  Bradley,  of  Hamden,  Connecticut,  and  a 
first  cousin  of  his  classmate  just  noticed,  was  born  on  April 
I5»  J7^9-  His  mother  was  Abigail,  eldest  daughter  of 
Nathaniel  and  Mary  (Todd)  Tuttle,  of  Hamden.  He  was 
fitted  for  College  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elizur  Goodrich,  of 
Durham. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Edwards,  of  New  Haven,  and  joined  the  College  Church 
on  profession  of  faith  on  March  6,  1791,  preparatory  to 
his  being  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  West 
Association  of  Ministers  on  May  31. 

On  May  14,  1793,  he  received  a  call  from  the  First 
Congregational  Church  in  Westmoreland,  Oneida  County, 
New  York,  which  had  been  organized  the  preceding 
September.  He  accepted  this  call,  and  was  ordained  on 
July  1 6, — the  sermon  being  preached  by  the  Rev.  Ammi 
R.  Robbins,  of  Norfolk,  Connecticut,  and  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship  being  offered  by  the  pastor's  classmate  and 
kinsman,  the  Rev.  Dan  Bradley. 

After  a  few  years  a  division  in  the  Society  caused  him, 
to  the  great  grief  of  the  church,  to  take  a  dismission,  on 
April  7,  1800. 

He  was  next  settled  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Ballston  Springs,  in  Saratoga  County;  but  his 
lungs  were  so  much  affected  in  consequence  of  an  attack 
of  pleurisy  that  he  was  obliged  to  discontinue  preaching 
in  the  fall  of  1811.  He  then  returned  to  Westmoreland, 
and  united  again  with  his  old  church  as  a  lay  member; 
but  in  a  short  time  removed  to  Clinton  in  the  same  county, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  served  with  reputation  as  an 
instructor  in  the  Academy  there. 

Being  restored  to  better  health  he  again  sought  employ- 
ment in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  on  September  3, 
1822,  he  was  installed  over  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  631 

the  village  of  Orville,  in  the  township  of  DeWitt,  in 
Onondaga  County. 

He  died  in  office  in  that  town,  after  being  ill  for  nine 
days  of  a  bilious  fever,  on  August  3,  1823,  in  his  55th 
year.  The  Rev.  Hezekiah  N.  Woodruff  (Yale  1784),  of 
the  adjoining  town  of  Manlius,  preached  both  his  instal- 
lation and  funeral  sermons. 

The  testimony  of  all  who  speak  of  him  is  that  he  was  a 
truly  good  man  of  exemplary  life  and  amiable  temper. 
His  sermons  were  solemn  and  impressive. 

He  married,  on  September  14,  1795,  Mary  Ann,  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  Beach  (Yale  1757),  of  Cheshire,  Connecti- 
cut, who  died  on  February  8,  1798,  in  her  27th  year.  He 
next  married,  in  the  early  part  of  1803,  Ann,  daughter  of 
John  Clark,  of  Clinton,  New  York,  who  died  in  Clinton  on 
April  19,  1832,  at  the  age  of  57. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  one  son  and  one  daughter.  The 
son  was  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1814,  and  became  a 
physician.  By  his  second  marriage  he  had  four  daugh- 
ters and  two  sons ;  the  elder  son  became  a  clergyman,  and 
the  eldest  and  youngest  daughters  were  in  succession  wives 
of  the  Rev.  John  F.  Brooks  (Hamilton  Coll.  1828). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dickerman      Ancestry,      579-84.       gencer,  viii,    190.    Pres.   Stiles,  Lit- 
Hotchkin,  Hist,   of   Western   N.  Y.,       erary  Diary,  iii,  413.     Tuttle  Family, 
323.     P.    Jones,    Annals    of    Oneida       271. 
County,    736-38.      Religious    Intelli- 


WILLIAM  BROWN  was  born  in  Tiverton,  Rhode  Island, 
on  April  30,  1770,  and  entered  College  from  Tiverton  in 
May  of  the  Freshman  year. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Edwards,  of  New  Haven,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
Church  in  Yale  College,  on  profession  of  his  faith  in 
March,  1791,  preparatory  to  his  being  licensed  to  preach 


632  Yale  College 

by  the  New  Haven  West  Association  of  Ministers  on 
September  27. 

Later  in  the  year  he  preached  as  a  candidate  in  Farm- 
ington,  Connecticut,  but  on  April  16,  1792,  was  called  to 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Glastonbury,  Connecticut, 
on  a  salary  of  fioo.  He  accepted  the  call,  and  was 
ordained  on  June  27  of  that  year.  The  ordination  sermon, 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edwards,  was  afterwards  printed. 

He  requested  in  December,  1796,  a  dismission  from 
this  charge,  on  account  of  a  failure  of  health,  and  was 
reluctantly  dismissed  in  March,  1797.  He  soon  after 
emigrated  to  New  York  State. 

He  there  studied  law  and  from  1802  to  1811  engaged 
in  practice  in  Catskill.  He  removed  thence  to  Auburn, 
where  he  continued  in  practice  until  1832,  when  he  again 
removed,  to  New  York  City,  where  or  in  Brooklyn  he 
resided  until  his  death  (with  the  exception  of  two  visits 
to  Europe,  in  1839  and  1846). 

He  died  in  Brooklyn  on  March  10,  1854,  in  his  84th 
year,  being  the  last  survivor  of  his  Class. 

He  was  a  fervent  Christian,  and  deeply  interested  in 
the  leading  public  measures  of  his  day,  especially  in 
temperance,  the  abolition  of  slavery,  Sabbath  observance, 
and  the  spread  of  education. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Chapin,  Glastenbury  Centennial,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  i,  657. 
132.  Conn.  Courant,  July  2,  1792.  "  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  220, 
National  Era,  June  22,  1854.  S Prague,  353,  413,  438. 


DANIEL  CHAPMAN  is  not  certainly  identified,  but  he  is 
supposed  to  have  been  the  youngest  of  twelve  children  of 
Deacon  Elijah  Chapman,  of  Tolland,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Captain  Samuel  Chapman,  the  first  settler 
in  that  town.  In  that  case  his  mother  was  Sarah,  second 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Stephen  Steel  (Yale  1718),  of  Tol- 
land, and  he  was  born  on  September  23,  1769. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  633 

A  memorandum  by  President  Stiles  implies  that  he 
became  a  physician. 

His  name  was  first  marked  deceased  in  the  Triennial 
Catalogue  published  in  1805. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Waldo,  Early  Hist,  of  Tollaiid,  64. 


SALMON  CONE,  the  third  son  and  fifth  child  of  Captain 
Jared  Cone,  of  Bolton,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Bolton 
on  September  15,  1766.  His  mother  was  Christiana, 
second  daughter  of  Captain  Matthew  and  Rachel 
(Wright)  Loomis,  of  Bolton. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Tolland  Association  of  Ministers  on 
October  5,  1790. 

He  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Colchester,  Connecticut,  on  February  29,  1792,  and  for 
over  thirty-eight  years  fulfilled  the  duties  of  that  respon- 
sible office,  until  his  resignation,  which  took  effect  on 
August  n,  1830. 

After  a  brief  interval  he  began,  in  1832,  to  supply  the 
pulpit  of  Goshen  Society,  in  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  and 
was  thus  engaged  until  his  death,  which  occurred  (prob- 
ably in  Colchester)  on  March  24,  1834,  in  his  68th  year. 

He  married,  on  January  25,  1792,  Mary  (or  Polly) 
Pinneo,  of  Lebanon,  who  died  on  March  2,  1802,  in  her 
3Oth  year.  By  her  he  had  one  daughter  and  two  sons; 
the  younger  son  was  graduated  at  Middlebury  College 
in  1815,  and  became  a  physician. 

He  next  married,  on  December  29,  1802,  Anna  Breed, 
who  survived  him,  dying  in  1850. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Loomis  Family,  Female  Branches,       Register,  xlii,  158.     Sprague,  Annals 
i,    524.     N.    E.    Hist,    and    Geneal.       of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  204. 


634  Yale  College 

GILES  HOOKER  COWLES,  the  son  of  Ezekiel  and  Martha 
(Hooker)  Cowles,  of  Farmington,  Connecticut,  was  born 
in  Farmington  on  August  26,  1766.  In  his  boyhood  he 
was  affected  with  a  fever-swelling  which  threatened  his 
life,  and  which  resulted  in  a  permanent  lameness.  In 
consequence  of  his  being  thus  disabled  for  farm-labor, 
his  father  determined  to  send  him  to  College,  and  he  was 
prepared  by  the  Rev.  William  Robinson,  of  Southington. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  Class  at  the  end  of  May  in  the 
Freshman  year.  He  joined  the  College  Church  on  profes- 
sion of  faith  in  July  of  the  Sophomore  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Jonathan  Edwards,  of  New  Haven,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Western  Association  of  New  Haven  County 
Ministers  in  May,  1791. 

He  then  labored  for  some  time  as  a  missionary  in  Ver- 
mont, and  received  a  call  to  settle  there,  which  he  declined. 

On  October  17,  1792,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the 
First  Congregational  Church  in  Bristol,  Connecticut, 
where  he  continued  for  nearly  eighteen  years,  or  until  his 
dismission  in  May,  1810.  During  this  period  there  were 
three  extensive  revivals  in  connection  with  his  labors, 
which  resulted  in  large  additions  to  the  church. 

In  1810  he  accepted  an  appointment  from  the  Connecti- 
cut Missionary  Society  to  labor  under  their  direction 
among  the  settlements  in  Northern  Ohio,  in  the  region 
since  known  as  the  "Western  Reserve."  He  spent  six 
months  in  visiting  these  scattered  communities,  and 
returned  late  in  the  same  year  to  Connecticut,  having 
accepted  a  call  from  the  united  churches  of  Austinburg 
and  Morgan. 

In  1811  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Austinburg, 
nearly  five  weeks  being  occupied  by  the  journey;  and  on 
his  arrival  he  was  installed  over  his  new  charge.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  dearth  of  ministers  and  of  churches  he 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  635 

spent  half  his  time,  until  within  six  months  of  his  death, 
in  the  employ  of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society, 
engaged  in  forming  new  churches  and  in  preaching  to 
those  which  were  without  a  stated  ministry.  He  thus 
formed  or  assisted  in  forming  most  of  the  Congregational 
churches  in  northeastern  Ohio  and  ministered  to  them  with 
signal  fidelity. 

During  nearly  his  whole  life  he  had  been  afflicted  with 
scrofula,  which  finally  gave  place  to  dropsy,  of  which  he 
died,  at  Austinburg,  on  July  6,  1835,  aged  nearly  69  years. 

He  married,  in  February,  1793,  Sally,  daughter  of 
Lebbeus  White,  of  Stamford,  Connecticut,  who  died  on 
August  i,  1830,  aged  56  years.  She  is  said  to  have  been  a 
lady  of  great  intellectual  and  moral  force,  and  of  earnest, 
active  piety. 

Their  children  were  five  sons  and  four  daughters. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  con- 
ferred on  Mr.  Cowles  by  Williams  College  in  1823. 

His  mind  was  acute  and  discriminating,  and  his  writ- 
ings marked  by  force  and  vigor.  He  undoubtedly  ranked 
among  the  more  able  ministers  of  his  time. 

He  published : 

The  Hebrew  or  Jewish,  and  Christian  Church  the  Same;  Illus- 
trated and  Applied,  in  proof  of  the  duty  of  Infant  Baptism ;  and 
the  most  weighty  and  plausible  objections  answered:  in  Three  Ser- 
mons [from  Rom.  xi,  17-20].  . .  To  which  is  added,  an  Appendix 
on  the  Mode  of  Baptism. — By  Jonathan  Miller.  Newark,  1802. 
8°,  pp.  100.  [A.  A.  S.  y.  C. 

Besides  the  above,  A  Letter  giving  an  account  of  a  Revival  of 
Religion  in  his  parish  in  1799,  was  printed  in  the  Connecticut  Evan- 
gelical Magazine  for  August,  1800  (vol.  I,  pp.  55-64)  ;  and  another 
Letter,  describing  a  similar  revival  in  1808,  appeared  in  the  same 
periodical  for  April,  1809  (vol.  2,  2d  Series,  pp.  143-46). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pul-       Diary,  iii,  220,  268,  458. 
pit,  ii,  330-31.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 


636  Yale  College 

ELKANAH  DOOLITTLE,  son  of  Ebenezer  Doolittle,  of 
Cheshire,  then  part  of  Wallingford,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Ebenezer  and  Lydia  (Warner)  Doolittle,  of 
Cheshire,  was  born  in  1766  or  1767. 

For  a  short  time  after  graduation  he  taught  in  the 
South,  but  in  1791  or  2  he  settled  in  New  York  City  as  a 
merchant  in  the  soap  and  candle  trade.  He  continued  in 
that  business  until  the  last  year  of  his  life  and  amassed  a 
fortune. 

He  died  at  his  residence  in  Brooklyn  on  October  29, 
1835,  in  his  69th  year. 

He  first  married  Abigail,  youngest  daughter  of  Samuel 
and  Jerusha  (Hollingworth)  Cook,  of  Cheshire;  and 
after  her  death  on  December  16,  1800,  in  her  26th  year, 
he  married  again  in  Brooklyn.  Several  sons  survived 
him. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Da-vis,  Hist,  of  Wallingford,  681,  736,  739. 


JONATHAN  WALTER  EDWARDS,,  the  eldest  child  and  only 
son  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards  (Princeton  1765), 
of  New  Haven,  and  grandson  of  President  Jonathan 
Edwards  (Yale  1720),  was  born  in  New  Haven  on  Janu- 
ary 5,  1772.  His  mother  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Eleazer 
and  Sarah  (Pitkin)  Porter,  of  Hadley,  Massachusetts. 

He  was  distinguished  for  classical  scholarship  in  Col- 
lege, and  delivered  a  Greek  Oration  at  graduation. 

At  Commencement  in  1792  he  was  elected  to  a  tutor- 
ship, and  entered  on  the  office  when  College  re-assembled 
in  October. 

He  retained  this  position  for  two  years,  and  in  1799 
settled  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  where  he  had  a  brilliant 
career  as  a  lawyer.  He  was  esteemed  as  an  eloquent  and 
able  advocate,  as  well  as  a  valuable  citizen.  He  served  as 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  637 

one  of  the  Representatives  of  the  City  in  the  General 
Assembly  during  six  sessions  between  1809  and  1818. 

He  married  on  November  29,  1797,  Elizabeth  (Betsey), 
daughter  of  Captain  Moses  Tryon  (United  States  Navy), 
of  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  by  his  first  wife,  Mercy 
Turner,  of  New  London.  She  was  born  on  March  12, 
1778,  and  died  at  her  residence  in  Hartford,  on  May  24, 
1857,  aged  79  years. 

They  had  ten  children : — six  sons,  who  were  graduated 
at  Yale  College,  in  1819,  1820,  1828  (two),  1832,  and 
1839,  respectively;  and  four  daughters,  of  whom  one  died 
in  infancy,  and  the  rest  lived  to  old  age,  unmarried. 

He  died  on  April  3,  1831,  in  his  6oth  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight  Family,  ii,  1042.  Goodwin,  Hist,  of  Wethersfield,  ii,  718.  Trum- 
Genealogical  Notes,  66.  Pres.  Ezra  bull,  Memorial  Hist,  of  Hartford 
Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  310,  353,  County,  i,  126.  Tuttle  Family,  427- 
365,  474-75,  478,  536-  H.  R.  Stiles,  29. 


NATHAN  ELLIOT,  the  ninth  in  a  family  of  thirteen 
children  of  Nathan  Eliot,  a  farmer  and  country  merchant 
in  Kent,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
the  Rev.  Jared  Eliot  (Yale  1706),  of  Clinton,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  Kent  on  February  25,  1767.  His  mother  was 
Clarina  Griswold,  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  a  sister  of 
Governor  Matthew  Griswold.  His  eldest  sister  married 
the  Rev.  Seth  Swift  (Yale  1774). 

On  leaving  College  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Litchfield  South  Association  in  1791 ;  but 
after  preaching  as  a  candidate  for  two  or  three  years  he 
abandoned  the  profession. 

He  subsequently  settled  in  Catskill,  New  York,  where 
he  engaged  in  business  as  a  merchant  and  bookseller.  He 
also  edited  for  some  time  a  newspaper  called  The  Ameri- 
can Eagle.  From  1807  to  1814  he  held  a  commission  as 
Captain  in  the  local  militia. 


638  Vale  College 

He  died  on  January  4,  1828,  aged  nearly  61  years. 

He  married  Mary  Murdock,  of  Lyme,  Connecticut,  who 
died  on  June  28,  1850,  in  her  8oth  year. 

By  this  marriage  he  had  three  sons,  the  oldest  of  whom 
was  graduated  at  Hamilton  College  in  1823. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Eliot  Genealogy,  73,  89 ;  2d  ed.,  67,       366,  487.     Walworth,   Hyde   Geneal- 
94.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,       ogy,  ii,  939. 


WILLIAM  GAY,  second  son  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ebenezer 
Gay,  of  Suffield,  Connecticut,  and  brother  of  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Gay  (Yale  1787),  was  born  in  Suffield  on  Octo- 
ber 1 6,  1767. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  followed  his  pro- 
fession with  credit  in  his  native  town,  where  he  also  held 
,  the  office  of  postmaster  from  1798  to  1835. 

He  married  on  September  6,  1796,  Elizabeth,  second 
daughter  of  Joshua  and  Elizabeth  (Cushing)  Richmond, 
of  Westport,  Bristol  County,  Massachusetts,  who  died  on 
February  8,  1836,  in  her  68th  year. 

He  died  in  Suffield  on  January  24,  1844,  in  his  77th  year. 

His  children  were  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
elder  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1817,  but  died  before 
his  parents ;  the  other  son  died  in  childhood. 


AUTHORITIES. 

N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Register,       86,    191-92.      Pres.    Stiles,    Literary 
xxxiii,     51,     54.       Proceedings     on       Diary,  iii,  183.     Trumbull,  Memorial 
Anniversary  of  decease  of  the  Rev.       Hist,  of  Hartford  County,  ii,  412. 
B.   Ruggles,   78.    Richmond   Family, 


LEE  HALL  came  to  college  from  Wallingford,  Connecti- 
cut,— the  eldest  son  of  Samuel  Hall,  and  grandson  of  the 
Rev.  Theophilus  Hall  (Yale  1727).  His  mother  was 
Eunice,  only  sister  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  Lee  (Yale 
1766). 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/#p  639 

,He  is  said  to  have  died  young  in  Virginia. 
His  name  was  first  marked  as  deceased  in  the  Triennial 
Catalogue  of  1808. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Salisbury,  Family  Histories  and  Genealogies,  iii,  31. 


RUFUS  HARVEY,  the  only  son  and  eldest  child  of  Dr. 
Josiah  Harvey,  of  (West)  Granville,  Massachusetts,  and 
grandson  of  Thomas  and  Jane  (Hungerford)  Harvey,  of 
Millington  Parish  in  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  was  born 
in  Granville  on  December  7,  1768.  His  mother  was  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  John  and  Edith  (Ward)  Bates,  of  Dur- 
ham, Connecticut,  and  Granville. 

After  finishing  his  College  course  he  studied  medicine 
with  his  father,  and  then  began  practice  in  Vermont. 

Three  years  later  he  returned  to  his  native  place,  and 
was  a  practitioner  in  East  Granville  until  his  death.  He 
was  not  a  religious  man,  and  did  not  secure  any  eminence 
in  his  profession.  Intemperate  habits  and  a  passion  for 
gambling  lowered  his  influence  and  usefulness. 

He  died  in  Granville,  on  September  15,  1817,  at  the  age 
of  48.  His  death  was  occasioned  by  a  fever,  contracted 
by  opening  a  trunk  of  infected  clothing. 

He  married  in  1790  Cynthia,  daughter  of  Oliver  and 
Sarah  Bucklin,  of  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island,  a  woman  of 
marked  piety  and  excellence. 

She  was  the  mother  of  four  daughters  and  four  sons; 
four  of  these  children  died  in  infancy.  One  daughter 
married  the  Rev.  Parsons  O.  Hayes  (Williams  Coll.  1816). 

Mrs.  Harvey  returned,  some  years  after  her  husband's 
death,  to  Pawtucket,  and  died  in  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  on  May  23,  1865,  in  her  97th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Rev.  T.  M.  Cooley,  MS.  Letter,  June,  1853.    Harvey  Book,  103,  146-47. 


640 


CYRUS  HINMAN  was  the  younger  son  of  Edward  Hin- 
man,  of  Southbury  Parish  in  Woodbury,  Connecticut. 
His  brother  Simeon  was  graduated  here  in  1784. 

He  was  a  young  man  of  promising  talents,  and  becamer 
like  his  father  and  brother,  a  practising  lawyer  in  South- 
bury,  but  died  there  in  April,  1800. 

He  was  never  married. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Cothren,    Hist,    of    Woodbury,    i,       Puritans,  840. 
562.      Hinman,     Genealogy     of     the 


ASAHEL  HOOKER,  the  second  son  of  Asahel  and  Anne 
(Parmelee)  Hooker,  of  Bethlehem,  then  a  parish  in 
Waterbury,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Hezekiah  and 
Abigail  (Curtiss)  Hooker,  of  Farmington  and  Bethlehem, 
was  born  in  Bethlehem  on  August  29,  1762.  When  he 
was  about  fourteen,  the  family  returned  to  their  ancestral 
home  in  Farmington,  and  the  son  Asahel  was  employed  on 
the  farm  until  he  was  about  twenty,  when  he  became 
interested  in  personal  religion.  Shortly  after  this  he  was 
admitted  to  church-membership,  and  began  to  indulge  the 
desire  of  preparing  for  the  ministry,  but  his  father  could 
not  afford  to  send  him  to  College,  and  his  entrance  was 
therefore  delayed. 

Before  and  after  graduation  he  pursued  theological 
studies  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  William  Robinson 
(Yale  1773),  of  Southington,  and  was  licensed  to  preach 
by  the  Hartford  South  Association  in  October,  1789. 

He  then  occupied  for  a  short  time  several  vacant  pulpits. 

In  June,  1791,  he  was  unanimously  called  to  the  pastor- 
ate in  Goshen,  Litchfield  County,  Connecticut,  and  having 
accepted  the  call  he  was  ordained  there  on  September  7. 
The  ordination  sermon  was  preached  by  Mr.  Robinson. 

The  parish  had  been  rent  by  serious  divisions,  and  for 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  641 

some  years  there  was  no  special  interest  manifested  in 
religion;  but  in  1798-99  an  extensive  revival  rewarded 
his  labors. 

In  1803  he  began  the  practice  of  receiving  young  men 
into  his  family  for  theological  education;  and  within  the 
next  five  years  about  ^hirty  candidates  for  the  ministry 
pursued  their  studies  with  him.  He  also  conducted  for  a 
short  time  a  school  for  advanced  secular  instruction. 

In  1807  another  season  of  unusual  religious  interest  set 
in,  entailing  upon  him  with  all  his  other  duties  great  and 
unremitting  labor, — the  result  of  which  appeared  in 
March,  1808,  when  he  had  a  severe  illness  from  pleurisy. 
A  succession  of  relapses  rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to 
spend  the  ensuing  winter  in  a  milder  climate,  mainly  in 
New  York  City  and  vicinity. 

His  feebleness  still  continuing,  he  went  to  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  for  the  winter  of  1809-10,  and  soon  after 
his  return  was  regretfully  dismissed  from  his  pastoral 
charge  on  June  12. 

After  this  he  preached  in  various  pulpits  for  brief 
periods,  but  his  health  was  still  so  delicate  as  to  require 
great  caution.  In  the  fall  of  1811,  however,  he  supplied 
for  some  weeks  the  Second  Congregational  Church  in 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  from  which  the  Rev.  Walter  King 
(Yale  1782)  had  recently  been  dismissed;  and  the  effect 
of  his  efforts  to  heal  the  broken  state  of  that  Society  was 
such  that  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate.  He  was  accord- 
ingly installed  there  on  January  16,  1812,  and  the  sermon 
on  the  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Nott  (Yale  1780) 
was  afterwards  published. 

For  a  year  he  labored  with  great  diligence,  and  seem- 
ingly in  good  health,  but  in  February,  1813,  he  was  seized 
with  a  fever  then  prevalent.  He  soon  recovered,  but  the 
disease  recurred  in  April  with  increased  virulence,  and  his 
death  followed  on  the  I9th  of  that  month,  in  his  5ist  year. 
The  sermon  preached  at  his  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
41 


642  Yale  College 

Joseph  Strong  (Yale  1772),  pastor  of  the  First  Church 
in  Norwich,  was  afterwards  published. 

Mr.  Hooker  married,  on  June  n,  1792,  Phebe,  second 
daughter  of  Timothy  Edwards  (Princeton  College  1757) 
and  Rhoda  (Ogden)  Edwards,  of  Stockbridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  granddaughter  of  Jonathan  Edwards  (Yale 
1720), — a  lady  distinguished  for  her  high  intellectual, 
moral,  and  Christian  qualities.  Besides  one  child  who 
died  in  infancy,  they  had  one  son  (Middlebury  College 
1814)  and  two  daughters, — one  of  whom  married  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Elias  Cornelius  (Yale  1813),  and  the  other  married 
the  Rev.  Solomon  Peck  (Brown  Univ.  1816). 

After  Mr.  Hooker's  death  his  widow  married,  on  Octo- 
ber 30,  1814,  Samuel  Farrar  (Harvard  1797),  of  Andover, 
Massachusetts.  She  died  in  Andover,  after  a  short 
illness,  on  January  22,  1848,  in  her  8oth  year;  and  the 
Sermon  delivered  at  her  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Leonard 
Woods  was  afterwards  published. 

Dr.  Strong,  in  his  published  sermon,  said  of  Mr. 
Hooker,  "A  more  unblemished  and  irreproachable  char- 
acter, I  have  not  known."  The  Rev.  Dr.  Heman 
Humphrey,  one  of  his  pupils,  wrote  of  him:  "He  was  a 
man  of  remarkable  mildness  and  equanimity  of  temper  .  . 
As  a  preacher,  Mr.  Hooker  was  instructive,  discrimina- 
ting, and  in  the  best  sense  deservedly  popular." 

He  published: 

1.  The  moral  tendency  of  man's  accountableness  to  God;    and 
its  influence  on  the  happiness  of  society. — A  Sermon  [from  Eccl.  xii, 
14],  preached  on  the  day  of  the  General  Election,  at  Hartford,  .  . 
May  9th,  1805.    Hartford,  1805.    8°,  pp.  41. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

2.  The  use  and  importance  of  preaching  the  distinguishing  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel.    Illustrated  in  a  Sermon  [from  John  vi,  66-69], 
at  the  Ordination  of  the  Reverend  John  Keep ;  .  .  in  Blandford,  Oct. 
30,  1805.     Northampton,  1806.     8°,  pp.  19.  [Y.  C. 

3.  The  immoral  and  pernicious  tendency  of  Error.     Illustrated 
in  a  Sermon  [from  i  Cor.  xv,  33],  delivered  at  the  Ordination  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  j/#p  643 

the  Rev.  James  Beach,    .  .   in  Winsted.     January  ist,  A.D.   1806. 
Hartford,  1806.    8°,  pp.  27.     [B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.     Harv.    Y.  C. 

He  also  contributed  the  following  to  a  volume  of  Sermons  on 
Important  Subjects,  Hartford,  1797  (pp.  291-314)  : — 

The  Divine  Sincerity,  in  the  free  and  indiscriminate  Offer  of 
Salvation  to  Sinners,  together  with  their  moral  Liberty  and  Account- 
ableness,  consistent  with  distinguishing,  efficacious  Grace: — Illus- 
trated in  a  Sermon,  from  Rev.  xxii,  17. 

A  strong  exposition  of  the  Edwardean  theology. 

The  following  Sermon  by  him  appeared  in  1807,  appended  to 
Sermons  on  practical  subjects;  by  the  late  Reverend  Joseph  Wash- 
burn  (pp.  331-56)  :— 

The  loss  of  a  faithful  minister  a  sore  affliction;  illustrated  in  a 
Sermon  [from  Acts  xx,  38],  occasioned  by  the  death  of  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Washburn,  A.M.  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Farming- 
ton  .  .  Preached  at  Farmington  June  19,  1806. 

He  also  contributed  to  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine  for 
March,  1801  (vol.  I,  pp.  341-47),  a  Letter  on  the  recent  Revival  of 
Religion  in  Goshen. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Alden,  Amer.  Epitaphs,  iv,  118.  Hibbard,  Hist,  of  Goshen,  89-91,  270, 
Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  569.  308-16.  Panoplist,  xi,  49~58,  97-io?, 
Descendants  of  Timothy  Edwards,  145-53-  Sprague,  Annals  of  the 
24-25.  Dwight  Family,  ii,  1040-41.  Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  316-21. 


JONATHAN  HUNTINGTON,  the  elder  son  of  Jonathan 
Huntington,  of  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and  a  nephew 
of  Deacon  Samuel  Huntington  (Yale  1743)  and  the  Rev. 
Eliphalet  Huntington  (Yale  1759),  was  born  in  East 
Haddam  on  July  2,  1770.  His  mother  was  Silence, 
daughter  of  Joseph  Selden  of  East  Haddam. 

He  resided  in  that  part  of  Haddam  known  as  Hig- 
ganum,  where  he  was  successfully  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  and  in  agriculture.  That  he  had  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  community  is  shown  by  his  promotion 
to  responsible  office.  He  served  as  one  of  the  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  town  in  thirteen  sessions  of  the  Legis- 


644  Yale  College 

lature  between  1804  and  1813,  and  was  also  a  member  of 
the  Convention  of  1818  which  formed  the  new  State 
Constitution.  In  April,- 1806,  he  was  ordained  as  deacon 
in  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Haddam,  and 
served  until  the  Church  in  Higganum  was  organized  in 
1844.  He  was  then  appointed  deacon  in  the  new  Church, 
and  served  until  his  death. 

He  died  in  Haddam  on  September  2,  1848,  in  his  79th 
year. 

He  married,  in  Nor  walk,  Connecticut,  on  October  10, 
1802,  Sarah,  daughter  of  David  Comstock,  who  died  on 
February  21,  1808,  aged  27  years.  By  her  he  had  no 
children. 

He  next  married,  on  November  21,  1808,  Elizabeth 
Leeds  Comstock,  a  sister  of  his  first  wife,  by  whom  he 
had  four  sons  and  four  daughters.  She  survived  him, 
dying  in  Haddam  on  July  31,  1849,  at  tne  age  of  61. 

He  was  a  specimen  Puritan,  grave  and  even  severe  in 
demeanor,  and  a  man  of  dignity  and  character,  a  con- 
sistent Christian,  faithful  to  all  the  duties  of  his  calling. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Haddam    Congregational    Church,       Family,  185,  271. 
2OOth  Anniversary,  113.     Huntington 


DORRANCE  KIRTLAND,  son  of  Ambrose  and  Elizabeth 
(Gibson)  Kirtland,  of  Saybrook  and  Hadlyme,  Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  Ambrose  Kirtland,  of  Saybrook, 
was  born  in  Saybrook,  on  July  28,  1770.  A  younger  half- 
sister  married  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Vaill  (Yale  1811). 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  settled  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Coxsackie,  New  York. 

He  served  as  Surrogate  of  Greene  County  from  June, 
1808,  to  March,  1810;  and  again  from  February,  1811, 
to  April,  1838. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  645 

He  was  a  Representative  in  Congress  for  one  term 
(December,  1817 — March,  1819). 

He  was  Chief  Judge  of  the  County  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  from  April,  1828,  to  March,  1838. 

He  died  in  Coxsackie  on  May  23,  1840,  in  his  /oth  year. 

He  married  on  May  26,  1795,  Frances  (or  Fanny), 
youngest  child  of  Dr.  Samuel  Field  (Yale  1754),  of 
Saybrook,  by  his  second  wife,  Hannah  Lord. 

She  died  in  Coxsackie,  on  February  I,  1818,  in  her  43d 
year. 

Their  children  were  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Chapman,  Pratt  Family,  275,  285.    Pierce,  Field  Genealogy,  i,  220-21. 


PETER  SCHUYLER  LIVINGSTON,  in  later  life  known  as 
Schuyler  Livingston,  a  son  of  Walter  and  Cornelia 
(Schuyler)  Livingston,  was  born  on  September  24,  1772. 
An  elder  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1786. 

He  went  through  the  regular  course  in  Columbia  Col- 
lege, and  received  his  B.A.  degree  there  in  1788.  At  his 
father's  desire  he  then  entered  this  College,  and  spent 
the  Senior  year  with  the  Class  of  1789. 

On  June  17,  1796,  he  married  Eliza,  the  eldest  child  of 
Colonel  Thomas  Barclay  (Columbia  College  1772),  of 
Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Barclay  (Yale  1734),  of  New  York  City, 
but  was  a  zealous  loyalist  in  the  American  Revolution, 
and  at  its  close  sought  refuge  in  Nova  Scotia.  His 
daughter  had  spent  much  of  her  time  in  and  near  New 
York  City  with  the  relatives  of  her  mother  (Susan 
DeLancey),  and  was  married  from  the  house  of  her  aunt, 
Mrs.  John  Cox,  in  Westchester. 

After  his  marriage  Schuyler  Livingston  resided  chiefly 
in  Harlem,  near  New  York,  where  he  died  on  July  8, 
1809,  in  his  37th  year. 


646  Yale  College 

His  widow  died  in  Harlem  on  June  21,  1817,  in  her 
4 ist  year. 

Two  sons  and  a  daughter  survived  them,  finding  a  home 
with  their  grandfather  Barclay,  who  had  returned  to  New 
York  in  1799. 

AUTHORITIES. 

T.    Barclay,    Correspondence,   -61,       Genealogy,    129,    165.     Pres.    Stiles, 
258,    365,    4^5-     Holgate,    American       Literary  Diary,  iii,  332. 


SILAS  MERRIMAN,  Junior,  was  a  son  of  Silas  and 
Hannah  Merriman,  of  New  Haven. 

All  that  is  known  of  him  after  graduation  is  the  record 
of  his  death,  which  occurred  at  St.  Mary's,  Georgia,  in 
October,  1791. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Conn.  Journal,  Febr.  I,  1792. 


ASAHEL  MORRIS,  the  tenth  in  a  family  of  twelve  chil- 
dren of  Amos  Morris,  of  Morris'  Point,  East  Haven, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  James  and  Abigail  (Rowe) 
Morris,  of  East  Haven,  was  born  on  February  14,  1766, 
His  mother  was  Lydia,  sister  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Camp 
(Yale  1764). 

He  became  a  physician,  and  in  1793  settled  in  Cam- 
bridge, Washington  County,  New  York,  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  present  village  of  Buskirk  Bridge,  where  he  practiced 
his  profession  until  his  death,  from  erysipelas,  on  July  6, 
1830,  in  his  65th  year. 

He  married,  in  Cambridge,  on  February  14,  1795, 
Catharine,  daughter  of  Philip  Van  Ness,  who  died,  from 
the  same  disease  as  her  husband,  seventeen  days  after  his 
death. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  647 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  The 
eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1813,  and 
followed  his  father's  profession  in  his  native  town.  The 
third  son  was  graduated  at  Hamilton  College  in  1823, 
and  became  a  clergyman. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Descendants  of  Amos  Morris,  10,       71,  136.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary, 
70-71.     Dodd,    E.    Haven    Register,       iii,  195. 


JONATHAN  OSBORN,  the  only  son  of  Jonathan  and 
Mehetabel  Osborn,  of  New  Haven,  and  grandson  of 
Jonathan  and  Anne  (Sanford)  Osborn,  of  New  Haven, 
was  born  in  1770.  His  father  died  in  his  infancy,  leaving 
an  embarrassed  estate.  The  son  was  very  weakly  for 
much  of  his  childhood  and  youth. 

About  two  years  after  graduation  he  was  attacked  with 
a  more  acute  illness,  from  which  he  never  recovered.  He 
was  for  most  of  the  time  bedridden,  and  after  great  and 
long  continued  weakness,  he  died  in  New  Haven  on 
November  4,  1796,  at  the  age  of  26  years.  He  was 
unmarried. 

AUTHORITIES. 

New  Haven  Colony  Hist.  Society's       ary  Diary,  iii,  195,  523. 
Papers,  iii,  568.    Pres.  Stiles,  Liter- 


JONATHAN  OSGOOD,  the  youngest  child  of  Josiah  and 
Hannah  (Kittredge)  Osgood,  of  Andover,  Massachu- 
setts, and  grandson  of  Lieutenant  John  and  Hannah 
(Ayres)  Osgood,  of  Andover,  was  born  on  September  21, 
1761. 

In  early  life  he  learned  the  trade  of  a  tanner,  which  he 
was  obliged  to  relinquish  on  account  of  ill  health.  He 
then  prepared  for  College,  his  residence  at  that  time  being 


648  Yale  College 

in  Littleton,  Massachusetts.     He  also  at  one  time  resided 
in  Westford,  Massachusetts. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  also  paid 
attention  to  the  science  of  medicine. 

In  July,  1791,  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
recently  organized  Congregational  Church  and  Society  in 
Gardner,  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  with  an 
annual  stipend  of  £75.  He  accepted  the  call  on  September 
21,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  on  October  19. 

He  was  an  evangelical  and  practical  preacher,  and  a 
very  active  and  useful  pastor,  and  in  addition  served  his 
flock  assiduously  as  their  physician.  He  rose  to  con- 
siderable eminence  as  a  practitioner,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  and  one  of  its 
Council  for  several  years.  He  had  also  a  good  knowledge 
of  human  nature  and  was  warmly  interested  in  all 
municipal  and  State  affairs,  and  represented  the  town  in 
the  Legislature  in  1806  and  1807. 

These  multiplied  and  distracting  labors  impaired  his 
health;  and  his  death  followed,  in  Gardner,  on  May  21, 
1822,  in  his  6  ist  year.  The  inscription  on  his  tombstone 
emphasizes  "his  love  of  order  and  peace,"  "his  hospi- 
tality, the  mildness  of  his  virtues  and  affability  of  his 
manners."  He  was  of  fine  personal  appearance,  very 
portly  in  his  mien,  with  a  loud,  clear-toned  voice. 

He  married  Orange,  daughter  of  James  and  Abigail 
(Lewis)  Wadsworth,  of  Farmington,  Connecticut,  by 
whom  he  had  three  daughters  and  two  sons. 

Mrs.  Osgood  died  on  April  13,  1837. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Abbot,  Hist,   of   Andover,   140-41.       Genealogy,   24,  44-45.     Pres.  Stiles, 
Herrick,  Hist,  of  Gardner,  208,  495-      Literary  Diary,  iii,  237.     Wadsworth 
98,     519-20.      Hodgman,     Hist,     of       Family,  196. 
Westford,      281,      337-38.      Osgood 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  649 


ELIJAH  PAINE,  son  of  Dr.  Elijah  Paine,  of  Hatfield, 
Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Seth  and  Mary  (Morris) 
Paine,  of  Pomfret,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Hatfield, 
on  November  29,  1760.  His  mother  was  Mary,  eldest 
daughter  of  Daniel  and  Elizabeth  (White)  White,  of  Hat- 
field.  In  the  summer  of  1777  he  served  for  one  month 
as  a  private  in  the  Northern  arnny. 

He  studied  law  in  Northfield,  Massachusetts,  and  in 
1793  settled  in  Ashfield,  Massachusetts,  in  legal  practice. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  in  1804  and 
1808,  and  a  State  Senator  in  1815  and  1816.  He  was 
twice  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Sessions,  and 
was  Deacon  of  the  Congregational  Church  for  thirty 
years.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  the  oldest  member 
of  the  bar  in  Franklin  County. 

He  died  in  Ashfield  on  August  3,  1846,  in  his  86th  year. 

He  married,  on  January  6,  1795,  Martha  (or  Patty), 
daughter  of  Shammah  and  Anna  (Mattoon)  Pomeroy, 
of  Northfield,  Massachusetts,  who  died  in  1841,  aged  69 
years. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  six  sons.  Of 
the  latter,  three  entered  the  ministry: — Elijah  (Amherst 
Coll.  1823),  William  P.  (Amherst  1827),  and  John  C. 
(M.A.  Amherst  1843). 

Judge  Paine  had  great  decision  and  energy  of  char- 
acter, and  an  unusual  share  of  practical  wisdom.  He  was 
inflexibly  upright  in  conduct,  and  thoroughly  Calvinistic 
in  his  religious  sentiments.  He  was  hospitable,  patriotic, 
and  an  uncompromising  opponent  to  the  encroachments  of 
the  Southern  slave  power. 


AUTHORITIES. 

American  Ancestry,  v,  78.    Massa-       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,   183,  236. 
chusetts  Soldiers  and  Sailors  in  the       Temple     and     Sheldon,     Hist,     of 
Revolution,   xi,   785.      Paine   Family       Northfield,  519. 
Records,  i,  109,  113;    ii,  142.     Pres. 


650  Yale  College 

JOHN  THOMPSON  PETERS  was  born  in  Hebron,  Con- 
necticut, on  October  n,  1765,  being  a  son  of  Jonathan 
Peters,  of  Hebron,  and  a  nephew  of  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Peters  (Yale  1757).  His  mother  was  Abigail,  daughter 
of  John  Thompson,  of  Hebron.  A  younger  brother  was 
graduated  here  in  1794. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  John 
Cotton  Smith  (Yale  1783),  of  Sharon,  and  settled  in 
practice  in  his  native  town.  His  fellow-citizens  elected 
him  thirteen  times  as  a  Representative  in  the  General 
Assembly  between  1802  and  1813. 

In  1813  he  was  appointed  Collector  of  United  States 
Revenue  for  the  First  District  of  Connecticut,  and 
removed  to  Hartford.  He  was  an  Episcopalian  and  a 
Republican,  and  in  May,  1818,  on  the  accession  of  the 
Republicans  to  power,  he  was  made  a  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  continued  in  that  office 
until  his  death,  although  his  mind  had  begun  to  fail 
perceptibly  long  before  the  constitutional  limit  of  his  term 
of  service,  which  would  have  been  reached  a  few  weeks 
after  his  death. 

He  died  in  Hartford  on  August  28,  1834,  in  his  69th 
year.  The  tall  monument  erected  over  his  grave,  in  the 
churchyard  adjoining  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Hebron, 
includes  a  marble  bust,  reproducing  his  features  in  a  life- 
like representation. 

He  married  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Caulkins,  of  Norwich. 
Connecticut,  daughter  of  Captain  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Chapman)  Farnham.  She  died  in  New  York  City,  on 
September  4,  1841,  aged  71  years. 

One  son  was  graduated  in  Yale  in  1826,  and  after 
showing  marked  literary  ability  died  before  his  father. 


AUTHORITIES. 

F.  Clarence  Bissell,  MS.  Letter,  of  Hugh  Peters,  115.  Russell,  Up 
Nov.  26,  19x36.  Hist,  of  Litchfield  Neck  in  1825,  33-34.  Pres.  Stiles, 
County,  1881,  26-27.  Peters,  Hist.  Literary  Diary,  iii,  199. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  651 

STEPHEN  PYNCHON,  a  son  of  Major  William  Pynchon, 
of  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  William 
and  Sarah  (Bliss)  Pynchon,  of  Springfield,  was  born  on 
January  31,  1769.  His  mother  was  Lucy,  daughter  of 
Lieutenant  Robert  and  Bathshua  Harris.  A  sister  mar- 
ried the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Gay  (Yale  1787). 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  settled  in  practice 
in  Brimfield,  Massachusetts. 

In  1797  he  was  elected  Town  Clerk,  and  was  continued 
in  office  by  annual  elections  until  his  death.  In  1798  he 
was  commissioned  by  the  Governor  as  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  he  discharged  the  functions  of  that  office  with 
a  wide  range  of  jurisdiction  and  a  large  number  of  causes 
until  his  decease.  When  a  post-office  was  established  in 
Brimfield,  in  1805,  he  was  appointed  Postmaster,  and  he 
retained  the  place  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  he  was  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of 
Sessions.  In  1805  he  was  chosen  a  Representative  in  the 
General  Court,  and  he  continued  in  that  office,  with  only 
two  years'  intermission,  until  his  death,  from  apoplexy,  at 
his  lodgings  in  Cambridge,  while  in  attendance  at  the 
Legislature,  on  February  5,  1823,  just  after  he  had 
entered  on  his  55th  year. 

Though  not  brilliant  as  a  lawyer,  he  evinced  a  sound 
and  matured  legal  judgment  which  won  the  confidence  and 
regard  of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  discharged  all  his 
public  trusts  with  fidelity. 

He  married,  on  January  13,  1799,  Sarah  (or  Sally), 
elder  daughter  of  Dr.  Israel  and  Sarah  (Lawrence) 
Trask,  of  Brimfield.  She  was  born  on  January  23,  1778, 
and  survived  her  husband. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  four  sons. 
The  second  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1825. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Columbian  Centinel,  Febr.  8,  1823.       xxxviii,    48.     Pres.    Stiles,    Literary 
Hist,     of     Brimfield,     183-85,     463.       Diary,  iii,  474. 
N.   E.    Hist,    and    Geneal.    Register, 


6s  2  Yale  College 

WILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  REYNOLDS  was  born  in  Branford, 
Connecticut,  in  1767. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine,  and  settled  in  his 
native  town  as  a  physician,  with  a  promising  prospect  of 
usefulness. 

He  died  on  February  28,  1794,  at  the  age  of  27,  on  board 
a  sloop  commanded  by  his  brother,  Frederick  Reynolds, 
on  its  passage  from  Havana  to  Branford. 

He  left  a  widow  and  an  only  son. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Conn.  Journal,  April  17,  1794.    Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  195. 


JOHN  STEARNS,  the  second  and  eldest  surviving  son  of- 
Dr.  John  Stearns,  of  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts,  and 
grandson  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Barnes)  Stearns,  of 
Tolland,  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Wilbraham  on  May  16, 
1770.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Captain 
Joshua  and  Jemima  (Eaton)  Wills,  of  Tolland.  A 
younger  sister  married  William  Cobb  (Yale  1788),  and  a 
brother  was  graduated  here  in  1796. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr. 
Erastus  Sergeant,  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  and 
also  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  (1792-93)  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 

He  settled  in  practice  in  Waterford,  Saratoga  County, 
New  York,  and  had  a  successful  career  there.  In  1809 
he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate,  and  after  the  sojourn 
in  Albany  required  by  his  tenure  of  this  office  for  four 
sessions  (January,  1810- April,  1813),  he  made  Albany 
his  permanent  residence. 

In  1819  he  removed  again,  to  New  York  City,  where  he 
continued  to  practice  to  the  close  of  his  long  life.  He  died 
in  New  York,  of  erysipelas,  resulting  from  a  poisoned 


Biographical  Sketches,  /7#p  653 

wound,  contracted  in  the  prosecution  of  his  profession, 
on  March  18,  1848,  in  his  78th  year. 

He  maintained  a  high  professional  standing,  and  was 
President  of  the  State  Medical  Society  from  1817  to  1820, 
having  been  its  first  Secretary,  from  1807  to  1813.  He 
received  the  honorary  degree  of  M.D.  from  the  Regents 
of  the  University  of  New  York  in  1812.  He  was  also  the 
first  President  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine, 
organized  in  1847;  and  at  the  semi-centennial  celebration 
of  this  event,  in  1897,  one  of  the  surviving  founders 
said: — "We  elected  for  our  first  President  Dr.  John 
Stearns,  on  account  of  his  great  ability,  as  a  presiding 
officer,  his  agreeable,  affable  manners,  his  sterling 
integrity,  and  high  sense  of  professional  honor.  This 
wise  choice  did  much  to  raise  the  Academy  in  the  public 
estimation." 

He  was  for  over  twenty  years  a  vestryman  of  St. 
George's  Church,  New  York,  and  was  one  of  the  founders 
(in  1825)  and  most  efficient  managers  of  the  American 
Tract  Society. 

He  married,  on  June  17, 1797,  Sally,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Hezekiah  and  Mary  Ketchum,  of  Waterford,  who  sur- 
vived him. 

Their  children  were  five  sons  (two  of  whom  died  in 
infancy)  and  one  daughter.  One  son  was  graduated  at 
the  Jefferson  Medical  College  in  1837. 

He  published,  besides  many  professional  papers  in 
periodicals : 

1.  Annual  Address  [before  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of 
New-York,  February  4,  1818].    In  the  Transactions  of  the  Society, 
for  the  year  1818.    Albany,  1818.    8°,  pp.  11-22.       [B.  Publ.    Y.  C, 

2.  Annual  Address   [before  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of 
New-York,  February  4,  1819].    In  the  Transactions  of  the  Society, 
for  the  year  1819.     Albany,  1819.     8°,  pp.  11-24. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.     Y.  C. 

On  geology,  which  was  one  of  the  subjects  included  in  the  field 
of  the  Society. 


654  Yale  College 

3.  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State 
of  New-York,  and  the  Members  of  the  Legislature,  at  the  Capitol 
in  the  City  of  Albany,  the  2d.  of  February,  1820,  on  the  Influence  of 
the  Mind  upon  the  Body  in  the  Production  and  Cure  of  Diseases. 
Albany,  1820.    8°,  pp.  19.  [B.  Publ.     V.  C. 

4.  An  Address,  delivered  before  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State 
of  New- York,  at  their  Anniversary  Meeting,  at  the  Capitol,  in  the 
City  of  Albany,  February  6,  1821,  on  the  Functions  and  Diseases 
of  the  Liver.     Albany,  1821.     8°,  pp.  20.  [B.  Publ.     Y.  C. 

5.  An  Address,  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  assuming  the  chair 
as  President,  at  the  first  regular  meeting  of  the  New- York  Academy 
of  Medicine,  February  3d,  1847.    New-York,  1847.    8°,  pp.  13. 

[B.  Publ.    Y.  C. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Bond,  Hist,  of  Watertown,  567.    Francis,  Old  New  York,  325-27. 


JAMES  THOMPSON,  second  son  of  Hezekiah  and  Rebecca 
( Judson)  Thompson,  of  Woodbury,  Connecticut,  was  born 
in  Woodbury  on  March  4,  1767.  Two  of  his  brothers 
were  graduated  here,  in  1782  and  1790  respectively. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  Judge  Tapping 
Reeve,  of  Litchfield,  and  began  practice  with  his  father  in 
his  native  place. 

About  the  year  1794  he  removed  to  Durham,  Greene 
County,  New  York,  where,  although  the  country  was  new, 
he  opened  a  law  office  under  favorable  auspices. 

After  rilling  other  local  offices  of  trust,  he  was  elected 
in  1805  to  the  State  Legislature,  and  served  for  two  suc- 
cessive terms  (January,  1806- April,  1807). 

While  engaged  in  a  profitable  law  business,  he  was 
moved  by  a  strong  sense  of  duty  to  abandon  his  profession 
and  prepare  himself  for  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  He  had  already  for  some  years  been  acting  as 
lay  reader  to  the  few  Episcopal  families  in  his  neighbor- 
hood; and  when  admitted  to  orders  by  Bishop  Hobart,  on 


Biographical  Sketches,  /7#p  655 

July  2,  1813,  he  undertook  the  care  of  three  infant  par- 
ishes,, in  Durham,  Windham,  and  Waterville — the  last  of 
which  was  thirty  miles  from  his  residence.  He  retained 
these  responsibilities  for  three  years;  but  for  the  next 
twenty-five  years  he  confined  his  duties  chiefly  to  the  par- 
ishes of  Durham,  Greenville,  and  Windham — the  farthest 
being  about  ten  miles  from  his  home. 

During  all  these  years  he  received  no  fixed  salary, 
beyond  a  stipend  of  $125  from  missionary  funds,  while  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  his  people  were  extremely 
limited.  He  had  several  flattering  invitations  to  take 
charge  of  flourishing  parishes,  but  could  never  be  induced 
to  forsake  the  churches  of  his  own  planting. 

A  few  years  before  his  death  he  purposed  to  confine 
himself  to  the  church  in  his  own  neighborhood ;  but  age 
and  infirmity  were  making  such  inroads  on  his  constitu- 
tion that  he  was  obliged  to  retire  in  favor  of  a  younger 
man.  To  accomplish  this  object  he  relinquished  his  mis- 
sionary stipend,  besides  contributing  liberally  from  his 
private  means. 

In  1843  he  was  attacked  by  a  cancer  on  the  lip,  and  on 
Easter  Sunday,  in  April,  1844,  he  was  for  the  last  time 
able  to  join  in  public  worship.  His  death  followed,  after 
great  suffering,  on  August  18,  1844,  in  his  78th  year. 

He  married,  on  October  22,  1798,  Anna,  eldest  child  of 
Major  Elijah  Humphreys,  of  Derby,  Connecticut,  and 
niece  of  General  David  Humphreys  (Yale  1771).  Her 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Mansfield 
(Yale  1741),  of  Derby.  Mrs.  Thompson  died  at  the 
house  of  her  eldest  daughter  in  Joliet,  Illinois,  on  April  n, 
1854,  in  her  79th  year.  Their  children  were  four 
daughters  and  three  sons ;  one  daughter  and  two  sons  died 
early. 

AUTHORITIES. 
Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  732,  734-35.     Humphreys  Family,  149-50. 


656  Yale  College 

URI  TRACY,  the  eldest  child  of  Daniel  and  Mary  Tracy, 
of  Norwich,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  John  and 
Margaret  (Hyde)  Tracy,  was  born  in  Norwich  West 
Farms,  now  Franklin,  on  February  8,  1764.  His  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  Ebenezer  and  Deborah  (Champion) 
Johnson,  of  Norwich.  He  saw  some  service  in  the 
war  of  the  Revolution. 

On  graduation  he  applied  himself  to  theological  study, 
and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Tolland  Association  of 
Ministers  on  June  7,  1791. 

He  emigrated,  later  in  1791,  to  Oxford,  New  York, 
where  he  found  employment  in  teaching  and  studied 
law.  He  was  the  first  principal  of  the  Academy  in  1794. 

In  March,  1798,  he  was  appointed  Sheriff  of  the  newly 
organized  Chenango  County,  and  retained  that  lucrative 
office  until  his  resignation  in  August,  1801,  when  he  was 
appointed  County  Clerk. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State 
in  1803,  and  a  member  of  Congress  from  December, 
1805,  to  March,  1807,  and  again  from  May,  1809,  to 
March,  1813. 

He  retained  the  clerkship  of  the  County  until  February, 
1815,  and  was  subsequently  elected  to  the  bench  of  the 
County  Court,  of  which  he  was  Chief  Judge  from  July, 
1819,  to  February,  1823. 

Judge  Tracy  died  in  Oxford  on  August  i,  1838,  in  his 
75th  year. 

He  married  Ruth,  daughter  of  General  Benjamin 
Hovey,  from  Oxford,  Massachusetts,  the  founder  of  the 
village  of  Oxford,  New  York,  and  had  by  her  four  sons 
and  one  daughter.  The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at 
Hamilton  College  in  1815. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Abbey,  Tracy  Genealogy,  43,  59,  98.  Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i, 
88-89.  Conn.  Courant,  Aug.  11,  106,  457-  Woodward,  Hist,  of 
1838.  Tracy,  Tracy  Genealogy,  58,  Franklin,  63. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  657 

AARON  WOODWARD,  the  eldest  son  of  Aaron  Woodward, 
of  (North)  Coventry,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of 
Nathaniel  and  Dorcas  (Gardner)  Woodward,  of  Brook- 
line,  Massachusetts,  and  Coventry,  was  born  on  October 
14,  1760.  His  mother  was  Eleanor  Benton,  of  Tolland, 
Connecticut.  The  family  removed  later  to  Wilbraham, 
Massachusetts. 

He  enlisted  in  1776,  and  belonged  to  that  portion  of  the 
Connecticut  troops  which  occupied  Fort  Griswold,  in 
Groton.  His  health  was  impaired  by  his  military  service, 
and  this  led  eventually  to  his  preparation  for  College, 
under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Williams,  of  Tolland,  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Backus,  of  Somers. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull  (Yale  1759),  of  North  Haven, 
and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  West 
Association  of  Ministers,  on  May  25,  1790. 

After  he  had  declined  several  other  calls,  Wilton 
Society,  then  included  in  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  invited 
him,  on  November  18,  1793,  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church,  on  a  yearly  salary  of  one  hundred 
pounds;  and  he  was  ordained  there  on  January  8,  1794. 

The  ordination  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Trumbull,  and  was  afterwards  printed. 

Twelve  days  later  the  new  minister  was  married  by  Dr. 
Trumbull,  in  North  Haven,  to  his  eldest  daughter, 
Martha. 

Ill  health  compelled  Mr.  Woodward  to  relinquish  his 
pastoral  charge  in  1800;  and  in  1801  he  removed  to  Wil- 
braham, Massachusetts,  where  he  was  for  many  years 
a  Deacon  in  the  Congregational  church,  and  where  he  died 
of  paralysis  on  February  25,  1840,  in  his  8oth  year. 

His  widow  died  on  December  10,  1851,  aged  88  years. 

Their  children  were  five  daughters,  all  of  whom  grew 
to  womanhood. 
42 


658  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  vi,  isoth  Anniversary  of  the  Wilton 
22.  Bond,  Hist,  of  Watertown,  971.  Congregational  Church,  46-47. 
Dimock,  Coventry  Records,  123.  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  Amer. 
Hurd,  Hist,  of  Fairfield  County,  848.  Pulpit,  i,  585.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
Olmstead,  Wilton  Parish,  39-40.  Diary,  iii,  336. 


ISRAEL  BEARD  WOODWARD,  the  eldest  child  of  Israel 
and  Abigail  Woodward,  of  Watertown,  then  a  part  of 
Waterbury,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Captain  Israel 
and  Abigail  (Beard)  Woodward,  of  Lebanon,  Connecti- 
cut, was  born  on  December  4,  1767.  He  was  thus  a  great- 
nephew  of  John  Woodward  (Yale  1740).  His  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  Eliakim  and  Joanna  (Curtis)  Stoddard, 
of  Woodbury,  Connecticut.  The  Hon.  Leman  W.  Cutler 
(Yale  1829)  was  a  nephew. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  Smalley,  of  New  Britain,  Connecticut,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South  Association  on 
June  7,  1791.  About  the  first  of  February,  1792,  he 
began  to  preach  as  a  candidate  for  Farmingbury  Society, 
which  later  became  the  town  of  Wolcott,  Connecticut. 
He  gave  such  satisfaction  that  in  April  he  was  unani- 
mously called  to  settle  over  that  Church  and  Society,  with 
a  salary  of  eighty  pounds.  He  accepted  the  call  on  May 
14,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  on  June  13. 

He  was  more  than  ordinarily  successful  as  a  preacher, 
and  was  highly  esteemed  as  a  citizen.  He  was  cheerful 
and  even  jocose  in  ordinary  conversation,  and  was 
remarkable  for  the  aptness  of  his  illustrations  in  the 
pulpit. 

He  usually  had  a  few  young  men  in  his  family 
preparing  for  College. 

In  the  summer  and  fall  of  1810  the  typhoid  fever 
prevailed  in  Wolcott,  and  Mr.  Woodward,  who  remained 
at  his  post,  visiting  the  sick  and  dying,  contracted  the 
fever,  and  died  on  November  17,  aged  nearly  43  years. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1789  659 

He  married,  on  October  22.  1792,  Sally,  fifth  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smalley.  They  had  no  children. 

She  survived  him,  and  in  1814  married,  as  his  third 

wife,  Simeon  Lincoln,  of  New  Britain. 

•  » 

She  died  in  New  Britain  on  October  22,  1843,  m  ner 
7  ist  year,  after  having  been  at  intervals,  for  some  years, 
partially  insane. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews,    New    Britain,    80,    256.       Diary,  iii,  458.     Stoddard  Genealogy, 
Orcutt,  Hist,  of  Wolcott,  60-67,  71-      1865,  18. 
78,    358-73.     Pres.    Stiles,    Literary 


660  Yale  College 


Annals,    1789-90 


In  October,  before  the  opening  of  the  first  term,  the 
full-length  portrait  of  Governor  Yale,  which  has  ever 
since  been  a  valued  possession  of  the  College,  was  received 
from  England  as  a  gift  from  Yale's  great-grandson,  and 
last  surviving  descendant,  Dudley  Long  North. 

At  about  the  same  date,  and  again  in  November, 
General  Washington  passed  through  New  Haven,  and  on 
the  former  occasion  Dr.  Stiles  presented  him  with  an 
address,  as  spokesman  for  the  Congregational  clergy  of 
the  city.  The  manuscript  of  Washington's  reply  fe 
preserved  in  the  College  Library. 

In  Christmas  week  there  arrived  from  London  a 
valuable  collection  of  philosophical  apparatus  (including 
a  telescope),  which  had  been  purchased  for  the  College, 
at  a  cost  of  over  two  hundred  pounds,  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Richard  Price. 

In  May  the  College  exercises  were  very  seriously 
interrupted  by  a  prevalent  influenza  which  raged  in  New 
England  through  the  winter  and  spring. 

At  Commencement,  1790,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Moses  Mather 
(Yale  1739),  of  Darien,  resigned  his  seat  as  a  Fellow  of 
the  Corporation,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Hezekiah  Ripley  (Yale  1763),  of  Green's  Farms. 


Biographical  Sketches,  //po  66 1 


Sketches,   Class  of  1790 


*Silas  Long  Bingham,  A.M. 

*Guilielmus  Metcalf  Bliss  "1838 

*  Johannes  Fay  *i8(X) 
*Stephanus  Fenn,  A.M.  "1833 

*  Johannes  Alfredus  Foot  *I794 

*  Johannes  Hart  Fowler  *i829 
*Edvardus  Dorr  Griffin,  A.M.  et  Neo-Caes.  1802, 

S.T.D.  Cone.  1808,  in  Acad.  Theol.  Andov.  Eloq. 

Sacr.  Prof.,  Coll.  Guilielm.  Praeses  "1837 

*  Samuel  H  ask  ell,  A.M.  Rutg.  1794  "1845 

*  Johannes  Ingersoll  *i84O 
*Samuel  Jones,  et  Columb.  1793,  LL.D.  Columb. 

1826  et  Cone.  1841,  Reip.  Nov.  Ebor.  Cancell.  et 
Cur.  Supr.  Jurid.,  Urb.  Nov.  Ebor.  Cur.  Super. 

Jurid.  Princ.  "1853 

*Samuel  Judson,  A.M.  *i832 

*Josephus  Kirkland,  e  Congr.  "1844 

*Benjamin  Maverick  Mumford,  A.M.  1798  *i843 

*Thomas  Mumford,  A.M.  1804  *i83i 

*Asahel  Strong  Norton,  S.T.D.  Cone.  1815  "1853 

*Ammi  Rogers,  A.M.  "1852 

*  Jacobus  Banks  Root  "1813 

*  Aaron  Smith  "1834 
*Marshfield  Steele,  A.M.  *i83i 
*Solomon  Stoddard  *i86o 
*Samuel  Thompson  *i8oo 
* Jesse  Towns  end  *i838 
*Benjamin  Trumbull  *i85O 
^Benjamin  VVooster,  A.M.  *i84O 


662  Yale  College 

SILAS  LONG  BINGHAM,  the  eldest  son  of  Deacon 
Stephen  Bingham,  of  that  part  of  Hebron  which  is 
included  in  the  present  township  of  Andover,  Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  Dr.  Eleazar  and  Miriam  (Phelps) 
Bingham,  of  Lebanon  and  Hebron,  was  born  on  January 
27,  1765.  His  mother  was  Sarah,  youngest  daughter  of 
Silas  and  Lydia  (Evets)  Long,  of  Coventry,  Connecticut, 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Tolland  Association  of  Ministers  on  June 

7>  I79i- 

Not  long  after  this  he  undertook  missionary  labor  in 

Vermont,  and  is  first  traced  at  Mount  Holly,  Rutland 
County,  where  a  Congregational  Church  was  gathered, 
probably  by  his  efforts,  in  October,  1799.  He  is  supposed 
to  have  been  ordained  there,  and  to  have  continued  as 
pastor  until  1804. 

On  March  9,  1804,  the  Society  connected  with  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  New  Haven,  Addison  County. 
Vermont,  directed  their  committee  to  apply  to  him  to 
preach  as  a  candidate  for  settlement;  and  as  the  result 
of  hearing  him  the  Society  voted  on  December  4  to  unite 
with  the  Church  in  calling  him  to  settle  as  pastor,  on  a 
salary  of  about  $250.  He  was  probably  installed  in 
January,  1805,  and  he  was  useful  in  his  work;  but  soon 
found  himself  unable  to  do  all  that  was  expected  of  him 
in  a  large  township  with  bad  roads  and  a  scattered  people. 
Complaints  began  to  be  heard,  and  finally  the  Society 
voted  on  April  12,  1808,  that  he  be  dismissed. 

He  continued  to  reside  in  New  Haven,  and  in  1809-10 
labored  as  a  missionary,  in  the  employ  of  the  Connecticut 
Missionary  Society,  in  the  southern  and  southwestern 
towns  of  the  State. 

He  died  in  New  Haven  on  February  19,  1853,  aged  88 
years. 

He  married  Betsey,  third  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Benajah 
Roots  (Princeton  1754)  and  Elizabeth  (Garnsey)  Roots, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  663 

of  Rutland,  Vermont,  who  died  on  February  6,  1833,  in 
her  62d  year. 

On  July  22,  1833,  he  married  Sophia  Hinman,  widow 
of  Thomas  Champlin,  who  died  on  April  3,  1872,  aged 
86  years. 

He  had  no  children  by  either  marriage. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bingham   Genealogy,    74,    113-     J-       teer,  i,  70;   iii,  847.    Root  Genealogy, 
M.  Comstock,  MS.  Letter,  June  18,       59. 
1906.    Hemenway,  Vt.   Hist.    Gazet- 


WILLIAM  METCALF  BLISS,  a  son  of  Judge  Moses  Bliss 
(Yale  1755),  and  brother  of  the  Hon.  George  Bliss  (Yale 
1784),  was  born  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  on  Octo- 
ber 23,  1770.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Church  in  Yale 
College,  on  profession  of  faith,  in  March  of  his  Sopho- 
more year.  In  January  of  his  Junior  year  he  delivered  a 
funeral  oration  in  the  College  Chapel  on  the  death  of  his 
classmate  Reuben  Wilcox,  which  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  printed. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  settled  in  Troy, 
New  York,  where  he  engaged  successfully  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  He  was  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  State  in  1811,  but  with  this  exception  held 
no  office  outside  the  place  of  his  residence.  He  was  much 
esteemed  for  his  legal  acumen  and  great  moral  worth. 

He  died  in  Troy  on  June  10,  1838,  in  his  68th  year. 

He  married,  in  July,  1797,  Charlotte,  eldest  daughter 
of  Captain  Stephen  Ashley,  of  Troy,  who  died  on 
February  20,  1846,  in  her  69th  year. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  two  sons,  none 
of  whom  left  descendants. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bliss    Genealogy,    87,    158.     Pres.       Trowbridge,  Ashley  Genealogy,  118. 
Stiles,  Literary   Diary,  iii,   307,   338. 


664  Yale  College 


JOHN  FAY  was  born  in  Bennington,  Vermont,  on  May 
i,  1768,  being  the  fifth  child  and  third  son  of  John  Fay, 
and  grandson  of  Captain  Stephen  and  Ruth  (Child)  Fay, 
of  Hardwick,  Massachusetts,  and  Bennington.  His  father 
was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Bennington  in  1777,  and  his 
mother,  Mary,  eldest  child  of  Lieutenant  Henry  and  Mary 
(Stone)  Fiske,  of  Sturbridge,  Massachusetts,  died  a 
fortnight  later. 

After  graduation  he  read  law  with  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Hitchcock,  of  Burlington,  Vermont,  and  settled  in  practice 
in  that  town.  He  was  also  the  first  postmaster  of  Bur- 
lington, and  a  large  holder  of  and  dealer  in  lands. 

He  died  in  Burlington  on  January  8,  1809,  in  his  41  st 
year.  He  married  in  1795  his  first  cousin,  Susan, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Jonas  and  Sarah  (Fassett)  Fay,  of 
Bennington,  by  whom  he  had  one  son  and  two  daughters. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Fay  Genealogy,  34,  63,  131.    Paige,  Hist,  of  Hardwick,  372. 


STEPHEN  FENN,  the  fourth  son  of  Deacon  Thomas 
Fenn,  of  Watertown,  then  part  of  Waterbury,  Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  Thomas  and  Lydia  (Ackley)  Fenn, 
of  Wallingford  and  Watertown,  was  born  on  April  16, 
1769.  His  mother  was  Abi  (or  Abiah),  youngest 
daughter  of  Richard  and  Anna  (Fenton)  Welton,  of 
Waterbury. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Hartford  South  Association  of  Ministers 
in  June,  1791. 

In  1793  he  emigrated  to  Harpersfield,  Delaware 
County,  New  York,  where  he  was  ordained  and  installed 
in  January,  1794,  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  665 

After  a  successful  pastorate  he  was  dismissed  in  1829, 
in  consequence  of  the  Anti-Masonic  excitement,  he  being 
a  Mason,  and  refusing  to  sever  his  connection  with  that 
order.  He  had  unusual  mental  and  physical  vigor,  and 
was  a  universal  favorite  in  the  community. 

He  died  very  suddenly,  of  apoplexy,  while  driving  in 
his  wagon  to  fulfil  a  preaching  appointment,  on  September 
26,  1833,  in  his  65th  year. 

He  married  Philomela,  second  daughter  of  Samuel  and 
Dorcas  (Skinner)  Southmayd,  of  Waterbury. 

Mr.  Fenton  is  described  by  those  who  knew  him  as 
"mild  in  his  deportment,  affable  in  his  manners,  witty  as 
well  as  grave  in  his  conversation,  with  a  mind  stored  with 
a  fund  of  amusing  anecdotes." 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,   Hist,   of   Waterbury,   i,       Delaware  County,  225,  230. 
Appendix,  50,  129.     Munsell.  Hist,  of 


JOHN  ALFRED  FOOT,  the  fourth  child  and  eldest  son  of 
the  Rev.  John  Foot  (Yale  1765),  of  Cheshire,  Connecticut, 
was  born  in  Cheshire  on  June  2,  1774.  He  entered 
College  at  the  opening  of  Sophomore  year,  when  only 
thirteen  years  of  age. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine,  and  early  in  1794 
was  licensed  to  practice  physic  and  surgery  by  the  examin- 
ing Committee  of  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society  for 
New  Haven  County.  He  settled  in  Woodbridge  in  this 
county,  but  was  almost  immediately  prostrated  by  illness, 
and  died  there  on  August  28,  in  his  2ist  year.  He  was 
buried  in  Cheshire. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Conn.     Journal,     Sept.     3,      1794.       Stiles,  MS.  Itinerary,  iv,  146. 
Goodwin,  Foote  Family,  210.    Pres. 


666  Yale  College 

JOHN  HART  FOWLER,,  the  only  son  of  the  Rev.  Amos 
Fowler  (Yale  1753),  of  Guilford,  Connecticut,  was  born 
in  Guilford  on  December  24,  1770,  and  was  named  for  his 
grandfather,  the  Rev.  John  Hart  (Yale  1703). 

After  graduation  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
law,  and  was  probably  admitted  to  the  bar,  but  did  not 
practice  to  much  extent. 

While  still  residing  in  Guilford  he  was  married,  in 
Westbrook,  then  a  parish  of  Saybrook,  by  the  Rev.  John 
Devotion,  on  July  I,  1797,  to  Phebe  Lay,  of  Westbrook. 

He  finally  entered  the  ministry,  and  on  October  13, 
1813,  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  Exeter  Society,  in  the  northwestern 
part  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut,  where  he  remained  until 
his  dismission  in  March,  1821. 

On  November  13,  1822,  he  was  installed  as  pastor  of 
the  small  Congregational  Church  in  the  mountain  village 
of  Montgomery,  Hampden  County,  Massachusetts,  where 
he  continued  until  his  very  sudden  death  on  March  12, 
1829,  in  his  59th  year. 

His  widow  is  said  to  have  died  in  1841. 

A  son  entered  the  Presbyterian  ministry  but  soon 
became  a  lawyer. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  ii,       land,  Hist,  of  Western  Mass.,  ii,  100. 
120.       Hampden   Pulpit,   52.       Hol- 


EDWARD  DORR  GRIFFIN,  the  second  son  and  child  of 
George  Griffin,  a  well-to-do  farmer  of  vigorous  intellect, 
of  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Lemuel 
and  Phebe  (Comstock)  Griffin,  of  East  Haddam,  was  born 
in  that  town  on  January  6,  1770.  His  mother  was  Eve, 
second  daughter  of  Edmund  Dorr,  of  Lyme,  and  sister 
of  the  Rev.  Edward  Dorr  (Yale  1742).  A  younger 
brother  was  graduated  here  in  1797,  and  became  an 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  667 

eminent  lawyer  in  New  York  City.  His  preparation  for 
College  was  chiefly  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Vaill  (Dartmouth  1778),  of  Hadlyme,  a  parish  in  his 
native  town. 

He  was  distinguished  for  scholarship  in  College,  and 
at  graduation  was  expecting  to  become  a  lawyer.  From 
New  Haven  he  went  to  the  neighboring  town  of  Derby, 
as  principal  of  an  academy. 

In  the  summer  of  1791  he  came  for  the  first  time  under 
the  influence  of  religious  impressions,  and  soon  after 
began  the  study  of  divinity  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards,  of  New  Haven. 

In  the  spring  of  1792  he  united  with  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Derby,  and  soon  after  gave  up  his  place  in  the 
academy.  Having  completed  his  theological  studies  in 
New  Haven,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  West 
Association  of  New  Haven  County  on  October  31. 

After  preaching  for  four  or  five  months  in  the  present 
township  of  Salem,  near  his  father's  house,  he  went  to 
Farmington,  Connecticut,  in  the  early  part  of  June,  1793, 
as  a  candidate  for  settlement.  He  supplied  that  pulpit 
until  December,  with  great  ability  and  reputation,  and 
was  then  invited  to  the  pastorate.  He  accepted  the 
invitation  in  April,  1794,  and  in  May  a  council  was  called 
to  ordain  him;  but  a  formidable  opposition,  chiefly  con- 
sisting of  partisans  of  a  former  candidate,  appeared,  and 
the  council  adjourned  without  action.  A  second  council 
was  called,  but  difficulties  being  still  made,  Mr.  Griffin 
withdrew  from  the  contest. 

He  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  in  New  Hartford,  Connecticut,  on  June 
4,  1795,  having  supplied  them  for  some  months. 

On  May  17,  1796,  he  married  Frances,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Huntington  (Yale  1762),  of 
Coventry,  Connecticut,  and  adopted  daughter  of  her  uncle, 
Governor  Samuel  Huntington,  of  Norwich. 


668  Yale  College 

A  succession  of  revivals  attended  his  ministry  in  New 
Hartford,  and  he  was  brought  into  intimate  relations  with 
a  group  of  pastors  who  were  devoted  to  such  measures, 
but  in  the  year  1800  Mrs.  Griffin's  health  became  so  much 
impaired  that  a  long  absence  in  the  milder  climate  of  New 
Jersey  was  prescribed.  While  thus  absent  a  call  was 
given  him  to  settle  in  Newark  as  colleague  pastor  with 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  McWhorter  (Princeton  Coll. 
1757),  over  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  that  town, 
with  a  very  large  and  highly  intelligent  congregation. 

His  pastoral  relation  to  the  church  in  New  Hartford 
was  dissolved  in  August,  1801,  and  he  then  accepted  the 
call  to  Newark,  where  he  was  installed  on  October  20. 
The  senior  pastor  died  in  July,  1807,  and  in  August,  1808, 
Mr.  Griffin  was  honored  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  Union  College. 

His  pastorate  had  been  markedly  successful  (474 
persons  having  been  admitted  by  him  to  the  church),  and 
in  1808  the  Trustees  of  the  Theological  Seminary  just 
established  in,  Andover,  Massachusetts,  offered  him  as  a 
master  of  sacred  oratory  the  Bartlett  Professorship  of 
Pulpit  Eloquence;  while  shortly  after  he  was  also  offered 
the  pastorate  of  the  new  Park  Street  Congregational 
Church  in  Boston. 

For  both  these  places  he  was  considered  as  pre- 
eminently qualified,  though  it  was  not  without  a  severe 
struggle  that  he  came  to  the  determination  of  accepting 
the  offer  first  made.  He  preached  his  farewell  sermon 
on  May  28,  1809,  and  on  June  21  was  inducted  into  office 
in  Andover. 

His  new  situation  was  in  the  main  congenial  (though 
he  was  subjected  to  criticism  on  account  of  extravagance), 
and  its  duties  were  acceptably  performed,  but  the  church 
in  Boston  which  had  previously  called  him  was  unable 
to  secure  such  a  pastor  as  seemed  essential,  and  after  he 
had  supplied  them  for  a  long  period  they  unanimously 


Biographical  Sketches,  /7po  669 

renewed  their  call,  on  February  i,  1811,  and  he  became 
convinced  that  the  emergency  compelled  his  acceptance, 
which  he  accordingly  signified  on  May  I,  having  already 
left  Andover.  He  was  installed  at  Boston  on  July  31. 
and  the  sermon  on  that  occasion,  by  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Worcester,  was  afterwards  published. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1814  he  was  invited  to 
return  to  Newark  as  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  had  recently  been  formed  out  of  the  con- 
gregation to  which  he  had  formerly  ministered.  In  the 
meantime  the  Park  Street  congregation  had  become 
embarrassed  in  consequence  of  the  war,  and  withal  were 
not  wholly  united  in  his  support,  so  that  he  felt  at  liberty 
to  accept  the  invitation  now  tendered  him.  He  was  dis- 
missed on  April  27,  1815,  and  was  installed  at  Newark  on 
June  20. 

During  this  pastorate,  besides  attending  with  his 
accustomed  fidelity  to  the  duties  of  his  charge,  he  devoted 
himself  with  great  zeal  to  the  establishment  and  support 
of  several  of  the  leading  benevolent  institutions  of  the 
day.  He  was,  for  instance,  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  and  active  in  the  establishment 
of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

In  the  spring  of  1821  he  received  an  invitation  to  the 
Presidency  of  Centre  College,  Kentucky,  and  shortly  after 
a  similar  invitation  to  the  College  of  Cincinnati.  These 
were  declined;  but  an  election,  in  August,  to  the  Pres- 
idency of  Williams  College,  at  Williamstown,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  which  he  had  always  been  interested  as  the 
cradle  of  foreign  missions,  was  more  successful,  owing 
to  some  unpropitious  circumstances  in  Newark  which 
had  interfered  with  the  growth  of  his  congregation  and 
with  their  ability  to  continue  to  him  a  competent  support. 

The  College  was  in  a  depressed  state  when  he  was 
inaugurated  to  the  office  of  President,  on  November  14, 
1821, — the  number  of  students  being  then  forty-eight, 


670  Yale  College 

though  afterwards  gradually  rising  to  one  hundred  and 
twenty.  In  February,  1825,  Amherst  College  obtained  a 
charter,  and  the  attendance  at  Williams  fell  off  very 
seriously;  but  Dr.  Griffin  applied  himself  to  the  raising 
of  funds  with  success,  and  the  future  of  the  College  was 
secured.  He  took  sole  charge  of  the  Senior  Class,  and 
was  an  excellent  teacher,  though  not  a  good  disciplinarian. 

His  health  began  to  decline  in  the  spring  of  1833,  from 
a  slight  paralytic  stroke,  which  was  followed  by  dropsical 
symptoms  in  August,  1834;  and  at  length  he  became  so 
enfeebled  that  he  found  himself  quite  inadequate  to  the 
duties  of  his  office.  He  therefore  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion in  August,  1836,  and  at  the  end  of  September 
removed  to  Newark,  to  reside  in  the  family  of  his  married 
daughter. 

Mrs.  Griffin  died  there,  of  dysentery,  after  twelve  days' 
illness,  on  July  25,  1837,  in  her  68th  year;  and  Dr. 
Griffin's  death  followed,  from  dropsy  in  the  chest,  on 
November  8,  1837,  at  the  same  age  as  his  wife. 

Two  daughters  survived  them,  the  elder  being  the  wife 
of  Dr.  Lyndon  A.  Smith  (Dartmouth  Coll.  1817),  and 
the  younger  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Crawford 
(Williams  Coll.  1836). 

Dr.  Griffin's  special  eminence  was  in  the  pulpit,  and 
particularly  in  seasons  of  revival.  He  was  beyond  ques- 
tion one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  pungent  preachers  of 
modern  days.  He  was  nearly  six  feet  three  inches  in 
height,  and  his  frame  was  in  every  way  well  proportioned. 
His  voice  was  of  immense  compass,  and  peculiarly 
melodious  and  solemn. 

The  Sermon  preached  at  his  interment  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Gardiner  Spring,  of  New  York,  was  afterwards  published, 
as  was  also  a  Discourse  occasioned  by  his  death  by 
President  Hopkins  of  Williams  College.  An  interesting 
Memoir  of  his  Life,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  B.  Sprague 
(Yale  Coll.  1815),  of  Albany,  was  prefixed  to  a  post- 
humous collection  of  his  Sermons  in  1839. 


Biographical  Sketches,  //po  671 

A  briefer  Memoir  was  contributed  to  the  American 
Quarterly  Register  in  1841,  by  the  Rev.  Ansel  Nash 
(Williams  Coll.  1809) ;  and  an  article  containing  Per- 
sonal Reminiscences  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  to 
the  Presbyterian  Quarterly  Review,  in  1858.  A  very 
interesting  volume  of  Recollections  of  Rev.  E.  D.  Griffin, 
was  written  for  the  Massachusetts  Sabbath  School  Society 
by  the  Rev.  Parsons  Cooke  (Williams  Coll.  1822)  in  1855 
(12°,  pp.  205). 

He  published: 

1.  The  Kingdom  of  Christ:    a  Missionary  Sermon  [from  Col.  i, 
16],  preached  before  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  Philadelphia,  May  23d,  1805.     Philadelphia,  1805.     8°, 
pp.  30. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

Later  editions  were  published,  in  1808  and  1821.  The  sermon 
was  in  advance  of  the  age,  and  gave  an  impetus  to  the  whole  modern 
missionary  movement. 

2.  A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  cxii,  6],  preached  July  22,  1807,  at  the 
Funeral  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Macwhorter,  D.D.,  Senior  Pastor 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  Newark,  New-Jersey.     New- York, 
1807.    8°,  pp.  iv,  52  +  pi. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S. 
Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

3.  A  Farewell  Sermon  [from  Acts  xx,  32]  ;    preached  May  28, 
1809,  at  Newark,  New-Jersey.     Newark,  1809.     8°,  pp.  30. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

Y.  C. 

This  was  reprinted  in  the  same  year,  at  Newburyport,  and  also  at 
Pittsfield.  Some  copies  are  accompanied  with  an  engraved  portrait 
of  the  author,  from  a  painting  by  Wood. 

4.  An  Oration  delivered  June  21,  1809,  on  the  day  of  the  author's 
Induction  into  the  office  of  Bartlet  Professor  of  Pulpit  Eloquence 
in  the  Divinity  College,  at  Andover.     Boston.     8°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S. 
Harv.    M.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 


672  Yale  College 

5.  A  Sermon  [from  2  Chron.  vi,  18],  preached  Jan.  10,  1810,  at 
the  Dedication  of  the  Church  in  Park  Street,  Boston.     Boston.     8°, 

PP-  34- 

[A.  A.  S.     A.  C.  A.     B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll 
Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    M.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

6.  A  Sermon  [from  Hebr.  xiii,  16],  preached  August  n,  1811, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Portsmouth  Female  Asylum ;  also,  with  some 
omissions,  for  the  Roxbury  Charitable  Society,  Sep.  18,  1811.    Bos- 
ton, 1811.    8°,  pp.  47. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  same.     Second  Edition.    Boston,  1812.    8°,  pp.  24. 

[B.  Ath.    Bowdoin  Coll.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.     N.  Y.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

7.  A  Series  of  Lectures,  delivered  in  Park  Street  Church,  Bos- 
ton, on  Sabbath  Evening.     Boston,  1813.     8°,  pp.  327. 

[B.  Publ.    Bowdoin  Coll 

The  same.     Second  Edition.     Boston,  1813.    8°,  pp.  327. 

[Bowdoin  Coll.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

Another  edition  appeared  in  1819. 

8.  A  Sermon  [from  Luke  ii,  34-35],  preached  October  20,  1813, 
at   Sandwich,    Massachusetts,   at  the   Dedication  of   the   Meeting 
House,  recently  erected  for  the  use  of  the  Calvinistic  Congrega- 
tional Society  in  that  town.    Boston,  1813.    8°,  pp.  35. 

[A.  A.  S.  '  A.  C.  A.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 
Y.  C. 

9.  A  Sermon  [from  Acts  ix,  6],  in  which  is  attempted  a  full  and 
explicit  Answer  to   the   common   and  highly   important  question, 
"What  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  delivered  in  the  ordinary  course, 
on  one  of  the  Sabbaths  in  August,  1814,  to  the  Congregation  in 
Park  Street,  Boston.    Boston,  1814.    8°,  pp.  20.       [U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

Later  editions  appeared, — as  at  Brookfield  in  1819,  and  at  Boston 
in  1824,  and  at  Northampton  in  1826. 

10.  Living  to  God:    a  Sermon  [from  Rom.  xiv,  7-8],  preached 
June  16,  1816,  at  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of  New- 
York.    New-York,  1816.    8°,  pp.  22. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.     C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

11.  An  Address  to  the  Public,  on  the  subject  of  the  African 
School,  lately  established  under  the  care  of  the  Synod  of  New-York 
and  New-Jersey. — By  the  Directors  of  the  Institution.     New- York, 
1816.    8°,  pp.  8.  [U.  T.S. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  673 

12.  A  Plea  for  Africa. — A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  Ixviii,  31]  preached 
October  26,  1817,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of 
New-York,  before  the  Synod  of  New- York  and  New-Jersey,  at  the 
request  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  African  School  established 
by  the  Synod.    New- York,  1817.    8°,  pp.  76. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

Including  valuable  statistics  on  the  negroes. 

13.  An  Humble  Attempt  to  reconcile  the  differences  of  Christians 
respecting  the  Extent  of  the  Atonement,  by  showing  that  the  con- 
troversy which  exists  on  the  subject  is  chiefly  verbal.    To  which  is 
added  an  Appendix,  exhibiting  the  Influence  of  Christ's  Obedience. 
New- York,  1819.     12°,  pp.  4/14. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    Bowdoin  Coll.     U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

A  work  of  abstract  metaphysical  reasoning;  it  was  reprinted  in 
1859  m  Professor  Edwards  A.  Park's  The  Atonement,  pp.  137-427. 

14.  Foreign  Missions. — A  Sermon  [from  Mark  xvi,  15],  preached 
May  9,  1819,  at  the  Anniversary  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,    in    the    Garden-Street    Church,    New- York.      New- York, 
1819.     8°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

15.  The   Claims  of    Seamen. — A    Sermon    [from   Luke   x,   37], 
preached  November  7,  1819,  in  the  Brick  Church,  New-York,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Marine  Missionary  Society  of  that  city.     New- 
York,  1819.    8°,  pp.  22.  [B.  Ath.    C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

16.  Thy  Kingdom  come.     Sermon  before  the  Foreign  Mission 
Society  of  Boston,  January,  1820.     Boston,  1820.    8°.       [B.  Ath. 

17.  An  Appeal  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  the  subject  of  the 
New  Test.     1820.    pp.  27.  [A.  C.  A. 

Anonymous.  This  has  reference  to  a  test  of  orthodoxy  inserted 
in  the  plan  of  the  African  School ;  it  was  answered,  the  same  year, 
by  an  anonymous  pamphlet,  The  Appeal  not  sustained. 

18.  An  Address  delivered  to  the  Class  of  Graduates  of  Williams 
College,    at   the    Commencement,    Sep.   4,    1822.      Pittsfield,    1822. 
8°,  pp.  12.       [Harr.    M.  H.  S.    R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.    U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

19.  The  Greek  Revolution:    an  Address,  April,   1824.     Boston, 
1824.    8°.  [B.Ath. 

43 


674  Yale  College 

20.  An  Address  delivered  on  the  I3th  May,  1824,  at  the  Anni- 
versary of  the  Presbyterian  Education  Society  in  the  City  of  New- 
York.    New- York,  1824.    8°,  pp.  9.  [U.T.S. 

This  occasioned  the  sarcastic  pamphlet  by  Abraham  Bishop  (Yale 
1778),  noticed  above  on  page  23. 

21.  An  Address  delivered  at  the  Anniversary  of  the  American 
Society  for  meliorating  the  Condition  of  the  Jews,  in  the  City  of 
New- York,  May  14,  1824.     New- York,  1824.     8°,  pp.  8.      [F.  C. 

22.  An  Address  delivered  before  the  American  Education  Society, 
in  Boston,  May  23,  1825.     Boston,  1825.    8°,  pp.  15. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    U.  S,    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

23.  A   Sermon    [from  Jer.   iii,    15]    on  the  Art  of   Preaching, 
delivered  before  the  Pastoral  Association  of  Massachusetts,  in  Bos- 
ton, May  25,  1825.    Boston,  1825.    8°,  pp.  35. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brown  Univ.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

This   gives  practical   rules   for  preaching  and  the  composition 
of  sermons.     A  second  edition  appeared  the  same  year. 

24.  A  Sermon  [from  Matth.  xxviii,  18-20]  preached  September, 
14,  1826,  before  the  American  Board  of  Missions,  at  Middletown, 
Connecticut.     Middletown,  1826.     8°,  pp.  27. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.    Brown  Univ.    C.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S. 

This  was  also  published  in  The  National  Preacher  for  September, 
1826. 

25.  A  Sermon  [from  Eph.  v,  17],  preached  September  2,  1827, 
before  the  Candidates  for  the  Bachelor's  Degree  in  Williams  Col- 
lege, Williamstown,  1827.     8°,  pp.  23. 

[A.  C.  A.    Brown  Univ.     C.  H.  S.     U.  T.  S.     Y.  C. 

26.  A  Sermon  [from  Nehem.  ii,  18]  preached  before  the  Annual 
Convention  of  the  Congregational  Ministers  of  Massachusetts,  in 
Boston,  May  29,  1828.     Boston,  1828.     8°,  pp.  24. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.    Brown  Univ.    Harv.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

27.  A  Sermon  [from  Deut.  viii,  2]  preached  September  2,  1828, 
at  the   Dedication  of  the   New   Chapel   connected  with  Williams 
College,  Massachusetts.     Williamstown,  1828.     8°,  pp.  37. 

[A.  C.  A.    C.  H.  S.     Harv,    N.  Y.  H.  S.  '  U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

28.  Letter  to  Deacon  Asahel  Hurlbut  on  the  subject  of  Open  Com- 
munion.    1829.     12°. 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/po  675 

A  Review  of  this  Letter  (with  a  reprint  of  the  text)  was  pub- 
lished by  Professor  Henry  J.  Ripley,  of  the  Newton  Theological 
Institution,  in  1829;  the  text  was  also  included  in  J.  G.  Fuller's 
Conversations  on  Communion,  second  edition,  Boston,  1832. 

29.  An  Address  at  the  Fifth  Anniversary  of  the  American  Sunday 
School  Union.    Philadelphia.    May  26,  1829.  [U.  T.  S. 

30.  An  Address  delivered  May  26,  1829,  at  the  Second  Anniver- 
sary of  the  American  Bible  Class  Society,  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia : 
on  the  Author's  taking  the  chair  as  President  of  the  Institution. 
Williamstown,  1830.    8°,  pp.  n. 

[A.  A.  S.    A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    B.  PubL     U.  T.  S. 

31.  God  Exalted  and  Creatures  humbled  by  the  Gospel:   A  Ser- 
mon, preached  in  Murray  Street  Church,  New  York.     1830. 

32.  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  B.  Sprague;   published  in 
the  Appendix  to  his  Volume  of  Lectures  on  Revivals.    Albany,  1832, 
8°,  pp.  17.  [C.  H.  S.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

33.  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Ansel  D.  Eddy,  of  Canandaigua,  N.  Y., 
on  the  narrative  of  the  late  Revivals  of  Religion,  in  the  Presbytery 
of  Geneva.     Williamstown,  1832.     8°,  pp.  12. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Harv.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

34.  A  Letter  to  a  Friend  on  the  connexion  between  New  Doc- 
trines and  the  New  Measures.    Albany,  1833.    8°,  pp.  8. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.    U.  T.  S. 

35.  The  Doctrine  of  Divine  Efficiency,  defended  against  certain 
Modern  Speculations.     New-York,  1833.     I2°>  PP-  221- 

[A.  C.  A.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 

Chiefly  in  criticism  of  the  New-Haven  theology. 

36.  The  Causal  Power  in  Regeneration  proper  direct  upon  the 
mind,  and  not  Exerted  through  the  Medium  of  Motives.     Argued 
upon  the  principles  of  the  Exercise,  though  the  author  believes  in 
a  Temper  or  Nature  anterior  to  Exercise  . .     North  Adams,  1834. 
12°,  pp.  26.  [B.  Ath.    U.  T.  S. 

An  answer  to  strictures  by  David  N.  Lord  on  the  last-named 
publication. 

The  following  volumes  were  published  after  his  death : 

37.  Sermons,  to  which  is  prefixed  a  Memoir  of  his  Life,  by  Wil- 
liam B.  Sprague,  D.D.     New-York,  1838.     2  volumes.     8°,  pp.  vi, 
597;  vi,  596.  [A.  C.  A.    B.  Publ.    U.  T.  S.    Y.  C. 


676  Yale  College 

Containing  sixty  sermons,  which  had  been  collected  and  prepared 
for  the  press  by  himself.  A  striking  engraving  is  prefixed,  from  a 
portrait  by  Waldo  &  Jewett. 

38.  Sermons,  not  before  published,  on  various  practical  subjects. 
New- York,  1844.  8°,  pp.  328.  [A.  C.  A.  U.  T.  S.  Y.  C. 

Containing  sixty  sermons,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague ;  the 
volume  was  originally  published  in  pamphlet  parts. 

Several  other  sermons  were  contributed  to  The  National  Preacher; 
also,  letters  descriptive  of  revivals  in  his  parishes,  to  The  Connect- 
icut Evangelical  Magazine,  1800-01,  and  to  The  Panoplist,  1808. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.     Quarterly     Register,     xiii,  343,  365-68,  3§5-     Memorial   of  An- 

365-85.      Centennial    Anniversary   of  clover  Seminary,  1859,  210-19.     Pres- 

Litchfield  County  Consociations,  109-  byterian      Quarterly      Review,      vi, 

12.     Durfee,  Biogr.  Annals  of  Wil-  587-604.       Sprague,    Annals    of    the 

Hams  College,  27-31.     Hill,  Hist,  of  Amer.   Pulpit,  iv,  26-43.     Walworth, 

the    Old    South    Church,    Boston,    ii,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i,  196;    ii,  1000-02. 


SAMUEL  HASKELL  was  born  in  1762,  probably  in  Har- 
vard, Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  from  which 
town  he  entered  College  in  September,  1786. 

He  had  served  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution  for  a  few 
months  in  the  year  1781. 

After  graduation  he  was  employed  for  two  years  as 
a  tutor  in  Rutgers  College,  at  New  Brunswick,  New 
Jersey,  where  he  was  given  a  Master's  degree  in  1794. 

In  1794  he  was  admitted  to  deacon's  orders  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  by  Bishop  Provoost,  of  New 
York,  and  was  inducted  into  the  rectorship  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  in  the  manor  of  Cortlandt,  now  in  Peekskill, 
Westchester  County,  New  York. 

He  was  advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Provoost 
in  1795,  and  in  August,  1797,  was  called  to  the  rector- 
ship of  Christ  Church  in  Rye,  in  the  same  county.  He 
accepted  this  call,  and  remained  at  Rye  until  his 
resignation  in  April,  1801. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  677 

In  May,  1801,  he  became  rector  of  Christ  Church, 
Boston,  Massachusetts,  but  resigned  this  charge  in  Sep- 
tember, 1803,  when  he  accepted  an  invitation,  given  in  the 
previous  July,  to  become  rector  of  St.  Ann's  Church, 
Gardiner,  Maine,  on  a  salary  of  $500. 

From  Gardiner  he  was  recalled  in  1809  with  gratitude 
and  affection  to  his  old  parish  in  Rye,  where  he  began 
to  officiate  in  June,  and  where  he  continued  Until  May, 
1823,  when  he  retired  permanently  from  active  service. 

The  rest  of  his  life  was  spent  in  New  Rochelle,  in  the 
same  county,  where  he  died  on  August  24,  1845,  at  the 
age  of  83.  ^_^ 

AUTHORITIES. 

Baird,  Hist,  of  Rye,  340.  Bolton,  598-99.  Hanson,  Hist,  of  Gardiner, 
Hist,  of  the  Prot.  Episc.  Church  in  252.  Mass.  Soldiers  and  Sailors  of 
Westchester  County,  337-39,  342-44,  the  Revolution,  vii,  429. 


JOHN  INGERSOLL,  the  seventh  of  nine  children  of 
Esquire  John  Ingersoll,  of  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  and 
grandson  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  (Dewey)  Ingersoll,  of 
Westfield,  was  born  on  August  12,  1769.  His  mother 
was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Colonel  David  Moseley,  of 
Westfield. 

After  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  West- 
field,  and  continued  it  in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  Caleb 
Strong,  of  Northampton,  where  he  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  September,  1797. 

He  settled  in  practice  in  his  native  town,  and  was 
well  established  by  1800,  when  he  was  married,  on  July  I, 
in  Northampton,  to  Elizabeth,  the  only  child  of  John  and 
Hester  (Stephens)  Martin,  of  the  Island  of  Antigua.  Her 
father  was  Collector  of  the  Port,  and  had  sent  his 
daughter  to  New  England  in  1798,  to  escape  the  yellow 
fever,  to  which  he  himself  soon  fell  a  victim. 

On  the  organization  of  Hampden  County  in  1812,  Mr. 
Ingersoll  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Courts  for  the 


678  Yale  College 

County,  but  he  continued  to  reside  in  Westfield  until 
November,  1814,  when  he  removed  to  Springfield,  where 
he  lived  until  his  death  on  December  26,  1840,  in  his  72d 
year. 

His  widow  died  in  Springfield  on  January  31,  1868,  in 
her  SQth  year. 

Their  children  were  five  daughters  and  two  sons.  One 
daughter  married  Dr.  Worthington  Hooker  (Yale  1825). 

Mr.  Ingersoll  was  commonly  known  among  his  neigh- 
bors as  "Honest  John,"  and  the  epithet  indicates  his 
reputation  as  a  faithful  official  and  citizen. 

He  was  a  valued  member  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  in  Springfield. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bates,  Address  at  the  Dedication  ley,  The  Ingersolls  of  Hampshire, 
of  the  Court  House,  Springfield,  45.  35,  42-45.  Westfield  Bi-Centennial 
Chapin,  Old  Springfield,  233.  Rip-  Jubilee,  169,  203-04. 


SAMUEL  JONES  was  born  on  Long  Island  on  Mayv26, 
1770,  being  the  second  son  of  Samuel  Jones,  a  distin- 
guished lawyer  of  New  York  City,  who  was  known  in  his 
later  life  as  "the  Father  of  the  New  York  Bar,"  and  the 
grandson  of  William  and  Phebe  (Jackson)  Jones,  of  West 
Neck,  in  the  town  of  Huntington.  His  mother  was  Cor- 
nelia, daughter  of  Elbert  Herring,  of  New  York  City. 
Judge  Thomas  Jones  (Yale  1750)  was  a  first  cousin  of 
the  graduate's  father. 

Samuel  Jones,  Junior,  entered  Columbia  College  in 
1786,  but  in  consequence  of  ill  health  left  that  College,  and 
in  April,  1789,  entered  the  Junior  class  at  Yale. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  (together  with  DeWitt 
Clinton)  in  his  father's  office,  and  then  settled  in  practice 
in  New  York. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Assembly  for  three 
sessions,  from  January,  1812,  to  April,  1814,  and  was 
Recorder  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  1823. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  679 

He  was  made  Chancellor  of  the  State  Court  of 
Chancery  by  Governor  Clinton,  in  January,  1826,  and 
served  until  April,  1828,  when  the  Superior  Court  of  New 
York  City  was  established,  and  he  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  Chief  Judge.  This  office  he  resigned  in  May, 
1847.  The  State  Constitution  of  1846  provided  for  the 
election  of  Judges  by  the  people ;  and  under  this  provision 
he  was  chosen  in  June,  1847,  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  for  the  district  of  New  York.  By  allotment  he 
became  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  to  January  i,  1849. 

On  the  expiration  of  his  term,  in  January,  1850,  at  the 
age  of  eighty,  he  resumed  practice  at  the  bar,  and  was 
actively  engaged  in  professional  life  till  within  about  two 
months  of  his  death,  which  occurred  at  the  house  of  his 
brother,  in  Cold  Spring,  Long  Island,  on  August  9,  1853, 
in  his  84th  year. 

He  was  active  in  the  councils  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  remarkable  to  the  last  for  his  interest  in  all  matters 
of  social  and  public  importance.  He  was  the  first 
President  of  the  Union  Club  (1836). 

His  distinguished  professional  eminence  was  recognized 
by  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  conferred  on 
him  by  Columbia  College  in  1826  and  again  by  Union  Col- 
lege in  1841. 

An  engraving  from  his  portrait  is  given  in  Wilson's 
Memorial  History  of  New  York  City. 

Chancellor  Jones  married  on  January  27,  1816,  Cath- 
arine, daughter  of  Philip  J.  and  Sarah  (Rutsen)  Schuyler, 
and  granddaughter  of  General  Philip  Schuyler.  Mrs. 
Jones  died  on  November  20,  1829,  aged  36  years. 

Their  only  son,  bearing  his  father's  name,  was  gradu- 
ated at  Columbia  College  in  1845,  and  reached  distinction 
in  his  father's  profession. 

Four  daughters  also  survived  him,  of  whom  the  eldest 
married  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  D.D. ;  the  second 
married  the  Rev.  Isaac  Peck  (Yale  1821)  ;  the  third  was 


68o  Yale  College 

the  Reverend  Mother  General  of  the  Convent  of  the 
Sacred  Heart;  and  the  youngest  entered  a  Protestant 
sisterhood. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Appleton,  Cyclopaedia  of  Amer.  T.  Jones,  Hist,  of  N.  Y.  during  the 
Biography,  iii,  472.  Bench  and  Bar  Revolution,  i,  Ixxi.  Pres.  Stiles, 
of  N.  Y.,  i,  376.  Miss  Catharine  S.  Literary  Diary,  iii,  350.  IVilson, 
Jones,  MS.  Letter,  Dec.  17,  1906.  Memorial  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  iii,  373. 


SAMUEL  JUDSON,  the  fourth  child  and  eldest  son  of 
Benjamin  and  Anna  (Camp)  Judson,  of  Woodbury, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca  (Hollis- 
ter)  Judson,  of  Woodbury,  was  born  on  December  8,  1767. 
He -united  with  the  church  in  Yale  College,  on  profession 
of  faith,  in  March  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  divinity  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Nathanael  Emmons  (Yale  1767),  and  was  unanimously 
called  in  the  summer  of  1792  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Uxbridge,  Worcester  County, 
Massachusetts,  at  an  annual  salary  of  £75  (or  $400).  He 
accepted  the  call,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  on 
October  17,  1792. 

For  nearly  forty  years,  in  perfect  health,  he  retained  the 
love  and  confidence  of  the  people  of  his  charge,  until  com- 
pelled by  illness  to  ask  a  dismission  in  March,  1832.  His 
successor  was  ordained  on  June  6  in  that  year;  and  his 
own  death  followed,  on  November  n,  at  the  age  of  65. 

His  tombstone  describes  him  as  "the  faithful  and 
beloved  pastor"  of  his  church,  who  "after  a  life  of  purity 
and  benevolence,  died  in  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  gospel." 

The  historian  of  the  town  calls  him  "a  man  of  remark- 
able conscientiousness,  rare  good  nature,  and  much  native 
common  sense." 

He  married  on  May  28,  1797,  Sarah  (or  Sally), 
daughter  of  Walter  P.  and  Elizabeth  (Norris)  Bartlett, 
of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and 


Biographical  Sketches,  //po  68 1 

two  daughters.  His  wife  survived  him.  The  eldest  son 
was  graduated  at  Brown  University  in  1818,  and  became 
a  physician,  but  died  before  his  father.  The  eldest 
daughter  married  the  Rev.  Albert  Cole  (Bowdoin  Coll. 

1834). 

Mr.  Judson  sympathized  with  the  evangelical  churches 

in  the  period  of  the  Unitarian  division,  but  his  personality 
held  his  church  united  until  the  end  of  his  active  life.  He 
was  conscientiously  benevolent,  and  gave  in  his  lifetime 
$1000  to  found  a  scholarship  for  the  education  of  pious 
young  men.  His  estate  at  his  death  amounted  to  a  little 
over  $20,000. 

A  sermon  occasioned  by  his  death,  preached  by  his 
successor,  the  Rev.  David  A.  Grosvenor  (Yale  1826),  was 
afterwards  published. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Quart.  Register,  x,  129,  141-  of  Woodbury,  i,  445,  594.  Emmons, 
42.  Blake,  Hist,  of  the  Mendon  Works,  i,  255.  Hist,  of  Worcester 
Association,  138.  Chapin,  Address  County  (1879),  ii,  429.  Pres.  Stiles, 
at  Uxbridge,  33-34.  Cothren,  Hist.  Literary  Diary,  iii,  307. 


JOSEPH  KIRKLAND,  the  eldest  child  of  Joseph  and 
Hannah  Kirkland,  was  born  in  Newent  Society,  in  the 
present  town  of  Lisbon,  then  part  of  Norwich,  Connecti- 
cut, on  January  18,  1770.  His  father  was  a  son  of  the 
Rev.  Daniel  Kirkland  (Yale  1720),  and  his  mother  was 
the  eldest  daughter  of  Matthew  Perkins,  and  a  sister  of 
Enoch  Perkins  (Yale  1781). 

He  studied  law  after  graduation  with  the  Hon.  Zeph- 
aniah  Swift  (Yale  1778),  of  Windham,  and  began  practice 
in  1794  in  the  village  of  New  Hartford,  Oneida  County, 
New  York,  being  attracted  to  that  neighborhood  through 
his  uncle,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland  (Princeton  Coll. 
1765),  the  Indian  Missionary. 

His  industry  and  strict  integrity  soon  brought  him 
abundant  business  and  reputation,  and  in  1804-05  he  was 


682  Yale  College 

chosen  by  the  Federalist  party  as  a  representative  of  the 
County  in  the  State  Assembly  for  two  Sessions. 

From  February,  1813,  to  February,  1816,  he  discharged 
with  ability  and  faithfulness  the  duties  of  District  Attor- 
ney for  the  sixth  district  of  the  State,  comprising  seven 
counties. 

In  1813  he  transferred  his  residence  to  Utica,  and  for 
thirty  years  was  prominently  identified  with  the  pros- 
perity and  public  enterprises  of  that  city.  He  was  again 
sent  to  the  Legislature  in  1818  and  in  1820-21,  but  vacated 
his  seat  in  the  latter  year  to  serve  for  one  term  (1821-23) 
in  the  United  States  Congress.  After  his  return  he  was 
again  elected  to  the  Assembly  of  1825. 

He  was  the  first  mayor  under  the  city  charter,  for  the 
year  1832-33,  and  again  held  the  office  from  1834  to  1836. 
During  his  term  of  office  Utica  was  visited  by  the  cholera, 
and  the  boldness  and  energy  of  his  character  had  an 
unexpected  scope  for  their  manifestation. 

General  Kirkland  (to  use  the  title  by  which  he  was 
latterly  known,  derived  from  his  service  in  the  militia) 
died  at  his  home  in  Utica  on  February  2,  1844,  aged  74 
years. 

A  portrait,  taken  in  his  old  age,  is  reproduced  in  Dr. 
Bagg's  Pioneers  of  Utica. 

He  married  Sarah  Backus,  born  July  29,  1777,  the 
youngest  child  of  Major  Ebenezer  and.Mercy  (Edwards) 
Backus,  of  Windham,  Connecticut,  and  a  sister  of 
DeLucena  Backus  (Yale  1792),  by  whom  he  had  twelve 
children,  nine  of  whom  lived  to  maturity.  Three  sons 
were  graduates  of  Hamilton  College, — in  1816,  1818,  and 
1837,  respectively.  One  daughter  married  the  Hon. 
William  J.  Bacon  (Hamilton  1822),  and  another  married 
Charles  Tracy  (Yale  1832). 


AUTHORITIES. 

W.  J.  Bacon,  Early  Bar  of  Oneida,  kins,  Perkins  Family,  pt.  3,  36. 
17-20.  Bagg,  Pioneers  of  Utica,  M.  E.  Perkins,  Old  Families  of 
343-47.  Jones,  Annals  of  Oneida  Norwich,  i,  15.  Weaver,  Genealogy 
County,  37,  41,  511-12.  G.  A.  Per-  of  Ancient  Windham,  62. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  683 

BENJAMIN  MAVERICK  MUMFORD,  the  youngest  of  eight 
children  of  Thomas  Mumford,  of  Groton  and  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  by  his  first  wife,  Catharine,  sister  of  Nicoll 
Havens  (Yale  1753),  and  grandson  of  Captain  Thomas 
and  Abigail  (Chesebrough)  Mumford,  of  Groton,  was 
born  in  Groton  on  July  28,  1772. 

In  1793  he  settled  in  New  York  City  as  an  insurance 
broker,  and  was  married,  June  19,  1802,  at  the  house  of 
James  C.  Duane,  Esq.,  in  Duanesburgh,  Schenectady 
County,  New  York,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  B.  Romeyn, 
to  Harriet,  youngest  child  of  Henry  and  Mary  (Myer) 
Bowers,  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  New  York 
City.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  New  England 
Society  of  New  York  in  1805.  From  1806  to  1811  he 
held  a  commission  as  Major  in  the  militia. 

He  continued  in  New  York  until  1815,  but  about  that 
date  removed  to  Schenectady,  where  he  was  engaged  in 
business  until  his  death,  on  March  20,  1843,  m  ms  7Ist 
year. 

His  wife  survived  him  until  August  17,  1868,  being 
then  in  her  87th  year. 

They  had  four  sons  and  six  daughters,  but  two  of  the 
sons  and  four  of  the  daughters  died  in  infancy. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Mallmann,  Hist,  of  Shelter  Island,       190-92,  223. 
241,    245.    Mumford    Memoirs,    134, 


THOMAS  MUMFORD,  fourth  son  of  David  Mumford,  of 
New  London,  Connecticut,  and  a  first  cousin  of  his  class- 
mate just  noticed,  was  born  on  July  13,  1770.  His  mother 
was  Rebecca,  eldest  daughter  of  General  Gurdon  Sal- 
tonstall  (Yale  1725),  of  New  London.  He  won  a  Berkeley 
Scholarship  at  graduation. 

He  studied  law  with  Judge  Samuel  Jones,  of  New  York 


684  Yale  College 

City,  the  father  of  his  classmate,  and  on  January  29,  1795, 
married  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  Mary  Sheldon,  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  Reuben  Smith  (Yale  1757).  Just  before  this  he 
had  begun  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Aurora, 
Cayuga  County,  New  York,  and  in  1800  he  settled  per- 
manently in  the  neighboring  town  of  Cayuga.  He  was 
for  many  years  connected  with  the  militia,  and  obtained 
the  rank  of  Colonel  in  1819. 

He  died  in  Cayuga  on  December  13,  1831,  aged  6il/2 
years. 

His  widow  died  in  New  York  City,  on  September  I, 
1840,  aged  nearly  67  years. 

They  had  five  sons  and  four  daughters,  of  whom  two 
sons  and  a  daughter  died  early.  The  eldest  son  was  gradu- 
ated at  Yale  in  1814,  and  the  youngest  at  Union  College  in 
1824.  One  daughter  married  Samuel  D.  Dakin  (Hamil- 
ton Coll.  1821). 

AUTHORITIES. 

Mumford    Memoirs,    139,     179-85.       Turner,    Hist,    of    Phelps    and    Gor- 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  392.       ham's  Purchase,  592-94. 


ASAHEL  STRONG  NORTON,  third  child  and  eldest  son  of 
Colonel  Ichabod  Norton,  of  Farmington,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Thomas  Norton,  of  Farmington,  was  born  on 
September  20,  1765.  His  mother  was  Ruth,  sister  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Cyprian  Strong  (Yale  1763).  One  of  his  sisters 
married  the  Rev.  William  Robinson  (Yale  1763),  and  a 
brother  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1804.  He  was  prepared 
for  College  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nathan  Perkins,  of  West 
Hartford. 

In  July  of  his  Junior  year  he  delivered  in  the  College 
Chapel  a  Funeral  Oration  on  a  deceased  classmate,  Charles 
Kingsbury. 

After  graduation  he  pursued  theological  studies,  partly 
under  the  direction  of  his  uncle,  Dr.  Strong,  and  partly 
under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smalley,  of  New  Britain.  He  was 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  685 

licensed  to  preach  by  the  South  Association  of  Hartford 
County  in  June,  1792. 

A  Congregational  church  having  been  gathered  in  1791 
in  the  village  of  Clinton,  which  is  part  of  the  township  of 
Kirkland,  in  Oneida  County,  New  York,  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Jonathan  Edwards,  of  New  Haven,  Mr.  Norton  was 
invited,  upon  Dr.  Edwards's  recommendation,  in  October, 
1792,  to  preach  to  them  as  a  candidate  for  settlement.  He 
accepted  the  invitation,  and  on  March  25,  1793,  received  a 
call  to  become  their  pastor,  on  a  salary  of  £100.  Though 
the  country  was  new,  and  the  field  of  labor  in  some 
respects  difficult,  he  felt  constrained  to  accept,  and  was 
accordingly  ordained  and  installed  on  the  i8th  of  the  fol- 
lowing September,  over  a  church  of  27  members. 

For  forty  years  he  devoted  himself  faithfully  and  effi- 
ciently to  this  charge,  and  reaped  the  fruit  of  his  toil. 
During  his  ministry  over  seven  hundred  members  were 
added  to  the  church;  special  seasons  of  revival  occurred 
in  1799-1801  and  1831-32.  He  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Union  College  in  1815. 

He  was  dismissed  at  his  own  request  in  November,  1833. 
Probably  one  cogent  reason  was  the  introduction  of  "new 
measures,"  as  they  were  termed,  in  connection  with 
revivals,  with  which  he  was  too  cautious  to  be  entirely  in 
sympathy. 

He  was  naturally  conservative  in  temperament,  and  free 
from  all  ostentation.  After  his  retirement  he  continued  to 
reside  on  his  farm  near  the  village,  and  remained  an  object 
of  love  and  veneration  to  the  whole  community. 

He  died  in  Clinton  on  May  10,  1853,  in  his  88th  year. 

He  married,  on  January  10  [or  19],  1795,  Mary  Clap, 
fourth  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Pitkin  (Yale  1747), 
of  Farmington,  who  died  on  September  n,  1839,  aged 
nearly  70  years.  Their  children  were  four  sons  and  four 
daughters.  One  son  was  graduated  at  Hamilton  College 
in  1828.  Professor  John  Norton  Pomeroy  (Hamilton 
1847)  was  a  grandson. 


686  Yale  College 

Dr.  Norton  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Hamilton  Col- 
lege, and  a  member  of  its  Corporation  until  his  retirement 
in  1833. 

His  only  publication  was : 

A  Sermon  [from  Ps.  cxlv,  2-4],  delivered  in  Clinton,  on  the  Pub- 
lick  Thanksgiving,  December  6,  1820.    Utica,  1821.    8°,  pp.  19. 

[Brit.  Mus.     Harv.     Y.  C. 

The  sermon  is  largely  historical  with  relation  to  the  village  of 
Clinton. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  289,  County,  183-86.  Pitkin  Genealogy, 
20/1-95.  Gridley,  Hist,  of  Kirkland,  27,  52.  Sprague,  Annals  of  the 
93-106.  Jones,  Annals  of  Oneida  Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  332-36. 


AMMI  ROGERS,  son  of  Thomas  Rogers,  of  Branford, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Josiah  and  Lydia  (Goodsell) 
Rogers,  of  Branford,  was  born  on  May  26,  1770.  His 
mother  was  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Abigail  and  Mary 
(Bartholomew)  Hobart,  of  New  London  and  Branford. 

While  in  College  he  became  an  Episcopalian;  and  on 
graduation  he  began  the  study  of  divinity  in  Middletown, 
Connecticut,  as  an  inmate  of  the  family  of  the  Rev.  Abra- 
ham Jarvis  (Yale  1761),  afterwards  Bishop.  Being 
detected  there  in  a  flagrant  act  of  immorality,  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  house,  and  for  a  very  short  time 
studied  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Mans- 
field, of  Derby,  and  the  Rev.  Edward  Blakeslee,  of  North 
Haven.  Having  learned,  however,  that  Bishop  Seabury 
would  decline  to  ordain  him,  he  went  in  1791  to  Northern 
New  York,  and  for  some  months  officiated  as  lay-reader  in 
the  churches  at  Schenectady  and  Ballston.  On  June  24, 
1792,  he  was  ordained  deacon  in  New  York  City  by  Bishop 
Provoost,  partly  on  the  strength  of  a  testimonial  from 
Connecticut,  which  was  afterwards  shown  to  be  fraudu- 
lent. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  687 

He  then  returned  to  Saratoga  County,  and  for  nine 
years  labored  diligently  as  Rector  of  churches  in  Ballston 
and  Milton,  and  Missionary  throughout  the  County,  being 
advanced  to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Provoost  in  New 
York  City  on  October  19,  1794.  His  zeal  and  energy  in 
his  work  produced  lasting  results  in  that  neighborhood. 

In  1794  he  married  Margaret,  only  daughter  of  Joshua 
and  Margaret  (Brintnal)  Bloore,  an  English  couple  who 
had  settled  in  Waterford,  in  Saratoga  County.  She  died 
in  the  late  summer  of  1800,  in  her  26th  year,  leaving  three 
children. 

He  was  a  man  of  pleasing  appearance  and  insinuating 
address,  and  a  very  popular  preacher.  He  interested  him- 
self in  public  affairs  and  was  one  of  the  original  trustees 
of  Union  College,  at  Schenectady,  in  1795.  He  was 
assiduous  in  attendance  at  the  diocesan  conventions,  and  in 
1799  contrived  to  secure  an  election  as  a  delegate  to  the 
General  Convention. 

Soon  after  his  wife's  death  some  unpleasant  rumors 
about  his  integrity  and  moral  character  became  current; 
and  although  his  hold  upon  his  parishes  was  unimpaired, 
he  decided  to  leave  the  neighborhood,  and  in  the  midsum- 
mer of  1801  he  returned  to  his  native  town. 

He  took  charge  immediately  of  the  Episcopal  parishes 
in  Branford,  Wallingford,  and  East  Haven,  but  was  noti- 
fied, by  vote  of  the  clergy  of  the  diocese,  that  he  must 
produce  testimonials  from  the  Bishop  and  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Diocese  of  New  York  before  being  admitted 
a  member  of  Convocation. 

Testimonials  were  procured  but  they  proved  unsatisfac- 
tory; and  as  he  conducted  himself  in  a  defiant  and  offen- 
sive manner,  especially  towards  Bishop  Jarvis,  the  Bishop 
was  unanimously  requested  by  the  clergy  to  forbid  his 
officiating  in  the  Diocese.  A  circular  to  this  effect  was 
issued  on  June  n,  1804,  to  which  he  at  once  published  a 
reply. 


688  Yale  College 

At  the  preceding  Easter  he  had  accepted  an  engagement 
for  six  months  in  the  wealthy  parish  of  Stamford;  and 
thus  acquired  sufficient  influence  to  encourage  him  to 
further  measures.  He  justified  his  attitude  towards  the 
Bishop  on  the  ground  of  persecution,  because  of  his  anti- 
federal  bias  in  politics. 

The  question  of  his  diocesan  responsibility  (whether  to 
New  York  or  Connecticut)  was  still  in  abeyance;  and  in 
September,  1804,  he  carried  the  case  before  the  House  of 
Bishops. 

That  body  pronounced  his  conduct  "insulting,  refractory 
&  schismatical  in  the  highest  degree,"  and  expressed  the 
opinion  that  he  was  amenable  to  the  authority  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  further  that  he  deserved  the  censure  of  degrada- 
tion from  the  ministry. 

Accordingly  Bishop  Jarvis  pronounced  a  sentence  of 
degradation,  which  was  unanimously  approved  by  the  Con- 
vocation of  the  Diocese  on  October  3.  This  aroused  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Rogers  to  greater  opposition,  and  a 
majority  of  the  Stamford  parish  elected  him  formally  to 
the  rectorship.  The  minority  sued  him  for  trespass,  and 
a  long  litigation  ensued,  in  which  the  courts  practically 
held  that  the  Bishop's  sentence  of  degradation  was  not 
complete. 

Early  in  1810  Rogers  removed  to  Greenfield,  in  Sara- 
toga County,  New  York,  where  he  organized  a  parish. 
While  there,  in  April,  1811,  he  brought  a  suit  against 
Bishop  Jarvis  before  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  slander;  but  when  the  trial  came  on  the  wit- 
nesses whom  he  had  expected  failed  him,  and  he  was 
non-suited  and  charged  with  the  costs. 

Soon  after  this  he  quitted  Greenfield,  and  returned  to 
Connecticut,  where  he  secured  employment  at  once  as 
supply  of  the  church  in  Pettipaug,  now  Essex,  whence  he 
went  in  1813  to  Hebron. 

Bishop  Jarvis  died  in  May,  1813;   and  during  the  next 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/po  689 

four  years,  before  another  Bishop  was  consecrated,  Mr: 
Rogers  was  very  active  in  extending  the  Church  in 
Eastern  Connecticut.  To  his  great  chagrin,  however, 
Bishop  Hobart  of  New  York,  when  in  temporary  charge 
of  the  diocese,  in  1817,  refused  to  recognize  him  as  a 
clergyman. 

In  January,  1818,  he  was  charged  with  having  seduced 
a  young  woman  in  Griswold,  Connecticut,  and  having 
procured  an  abortion.  The  case  came  to  trial  in  October, 
1820,  and  he  was  adjudged  guilty  and  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  for  two  years, — the  sentence  being  lightened 
in  mercy  to  his  children.  A  sensational  pamphlet  of  56 
pages  descriptive  of  the  trial  was  published. 

He  served  his  .term  in  jail  at  Norwich,  and  then  wrote 
and  published  a  history  of  his  life,  in  which  he  endeavored 
to  show  the  injustice  of  his  conviction. 

He  traveled  through  Connecticut,  Vermont,  and  New 
Hampshire,  selling  copies  of  his  book,  and  was  afterwards 
for  some  years  in  the  northern  part  of  Saratoga  County, 
New  York,  preaching  where  he  could  get  an  audience; 
meantime  the  Bishops  of  the  diocese  repeatedly  advertised 
him  as  a  deposed  clergyman,  and  cautioned  their  parishes 
to  give  him  no  credence. 

At  one  time  he  became  an  agent  for  a  Life  Insurance 
Company. 

Two  of  his  children  grew  to  maturity: — a  son,  who 
became  a  Methodist  minister,  and  a  daughter,  who 
married  and  setted  in  Saratoga  County.  A  grandson 
entered  the  Episcopal  ministry. 

At  last  he  took  up  his  residence  with  his  daughter,  in 
Milton,  Ulster  County,  New  York,  where  he  died  on  April 
10,  1852,  aged  nearly  82  years. 

He  published : 

i.  The  Constitution  &  Canons  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  relative 
to  the  discipline  of  clergyman ;  the  Bishop's  Vows  of  Office,  rela- 
tive to  discipline:  the  several  petitions  and  documents  relative  to 

44 


690  Yale  College 

the  Rev.  Ammi  Rogers ;  and  the  ecclesiastical  proceedings  thereon, 
by  Gary  Leeds  &  Samuel  Pennoyer,  Wardens  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Stamford.  1812.  8°,  pp.  32.  [Y.  C. 

Without  any  author's  name,  but  evidently  compiled  by  Rogers. 

2.  Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  Ammi  Rogers,  A.M.,  a  Clergyman  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  .  .  persecuted  in  the  State  of  Connecticut,  on 
account  of  religion  and  politics,  for  almost  twenty  years — and  finally 
falsely  accused  and  imprisoned  in  Norwich  Gaol  for  two  years  .  . . 
1824.  12°,  pp.  264.  [Watkinson  Libr.  Y.  C. 

The   same.   Second  Edition.    Schenectady,  1826.    sq.  16°,  pp.  272. 

\Harv.     Y.  C. 

The  same.  Third  Edition :  with  additions,  omissions  and  alter- 
ations. Middlebury,  Vt.,  1830.  12°,  pp.  268. 

[B.  Publ.    Brit.  Mus.    Horn.     U.  S.     Y.  C. 

The   same.    Fourth  Edition.    Concord,  N.  H.,-  1832.    12°,  pp.  264. 

[B.  Publ.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 

The   same.    Fifth  Edition.    Concord,  1833.    12°,  pp.  264.     [Y.  C 
The   same.     Sixth  Edition.    Troy,  N.  Y'.,  1834.     12°,  pp.  264. 
The   same.     Ninth  Edition.     Watertown,  N.  Y.,  1848.     12°. 

The  volume  is  written  in  a  bitter  and  unchristian  spirit,  and  in 
several  important  particulars  gives  a  false  impression  by  the  suppres- 
sion of  facts. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Beardsley,  Hist,  of  the  Church  in  63,  65-70,  73-74,  93,  184-86,  190. 
Conn.,  ii,  29-42,  47-54,  154-59,  447~  White,  Memoirs  of  the  Episcopal 
52.  Conn.  Convocation  Records,  59,  Church,  188-90,  199-200,  353-54. 


JAMES  BANKS  ROOT,  the  seventh  child  and  fifth  son  of 
the  Hon.  Jesse  Root  (Princeton  Coll.  1750),  of  Coventry, 
Connecticut,  was  born  on  May  20,  1770.  An  elder  brother 
was  graduated  here  in  1782. 

After  graduation  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Erastus 
Sergeant,  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  whose  daughter 
Martha  he  married  on  June  8,  1797. 

He  seems  to  have  settled  at  first  in  Burlington,  Vermont, 
but  soon  removed  thence  to  Athens,  near  Catskill  New 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  691 

York,  where  he  died  on  February  28,  1813,  in  his  43d  year. 
His  early  and  lamented  death  was  the  direct  consequence 
of  exposure  during  the  prevalence  of  an  epidemic  in  the 
town. 

His  widow  died  in  Stockbridge,  on  March  15,  1821, 
aged  47  years. 

Their  children  were  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Austin  C.  Dunham  (Yale  1854)  is  a  grandson. 

Dr.  Root  is  represented  by  tradition  as  a  skilful 
physician,  of  courtly  manners  of  the  old  school. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  326,  329-30.     Root  Genealogy,  144,  192. 


AARON  SMITH,  the  eldest  child  of  Major-General  David 
and  Ruth  Smith,  of  Northbury  Parish,  in  Waterbury,  now 
Plymouth,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  April  19,  1771.  A 
brother  was  graduated  here  in  1806,  and  became  an 
Episcopal  clergyman. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  settled  in  Litch- 
field,  Connecticut,  where  he  had  a  respectable  career  as  a 
lawyer  and  merchant.  He  was  one  of  the  Representatives 
of  the  town  in  the  General  Assembly  at  eleven  sessions 
between  1808  and  1814.  He  also  attained  the  rank  of 
Colonel  in  the  militia. 

He  died  in  Litchfield  on  September  28,  1834,  in  his  64th 
year. 

He  married  Amanda,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Simon 
Waterman  (Yale  1759),  of  Plymouth,  who  died  in  Litch- 
field on  November  17  (or  19),  1839,  aged  66  years.  They 
had  one  son,  who  died  in  early  manhood. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,   Hist,   of   Waterbury,  i,       ruff,    Litchfield    Genealogical    Regis- 
Appendix,    126.        Payne,    Litchfield       ter,  206-07. 
and  Morris  Inscriptions,  103.     Wood- 


692  Yale  College 

MARSHFIELD  STEELED  the  youngest  of  nine  children  of 
Josiah  Steele,  of  West  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  nephew 
of  the  Rev.  Eliphalet  Steele  (Yale  1764),  was  born  in  West 
Hartford  on  August  10,  1771.  His  mother  was  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Colton  (Yale  1710). 
His  father  removed  to  Hinesburg,  Vermont,  about  the 
time  this  son  entered  College ;  but  the  latter  seems  to  have 
remained  in  the  family  of  his  childless  uncle,  the  Rev. 
George  Colton  (  Yale  1756),  of  Bolton,  Connecticut. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  probably  with  his 
uncle,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Tolland  Associa- 
tion of  Ministers  on  June  3,  1794. 

He  seems  to  have  continued  to  live  in  Bolton,  and  there 
married  Rachel,  third  daughter  of  Judah  and  Martha 
(Alvord)  Strong,  of  Bolton,  and  step-daughter  of  his 
uncle.  She  was  born  on  October  16,  1774. 

In  the  early  months  of  1800  he  labored  as  a  missionary  in 
Vermont. 

On  September  3,  1800,  he  was  ordained  and  installed 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church,  of  twenty-nine  mem- 
bers, at  Machias,  Maine,  on  a  salary  of  five  hundred 
dollars.  The  ordination  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Jonathan 
Fisher  (Harvard  Coll.  1792),  of  Bluehill,  Maine,  was 
subsequently  published. 

For  nearly  twenty  years  he  was  the  only  settled  minister 
in  Washington  County,  and  served  a  large  territory  with 
faithfulness.  He  possessed  no  marked  ability  as  a 
preacher,  but  his  ministry  was  greatly  blessed  to  the 
church  and  people,  and  his  memory  is  still  cherished  as  that 
of  a  sincerely  good  man.  He  was  grave,  even  severe  in 
deportment,  painstaking  and  methodical  in  his  habits, 
scrupulously  conscientious,  and  strictly  orthodox,  a  man  of 
sincere  humanity,  purity  of  life  and  devoted  piety,  yet 
eminently  social  and  genial  in  disposition. 

His  health  was  in  general  quite  infirm,  and  a  disease  of 
the  throat,  probably  chronic  laryngitis,  compelled  him  to 


Biographical  Sketches,  7790  693 

give  up  preaching  altogether  in  October,  1821,  when  a 
colleague-pastor  was  settled.  Two  new  churches  were 
formed  out  of  the  parish  in  the  next  ten  years.  After  his 
retirement  he  opened  a  private  school  in  his  own  house. 

He  died  in  Machias  on  June  25,  1831,  aged  nearly  60 
years.  Three  sons  survived  him. 

His  portrait  is  preserved  in  Machias. 

During  the  war  of  1812  his  residence  was  broken  up, 
and  he  spent  about  ten  months  in  missionary  labor  in  Ver- 
mont and  New  York. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.     Quarterly     Register,     xiii,       Harding,      Memorial      Address      at 
255,  264.     Conn.  Missionary  Society,       Machias,    27-29;     MS.    Letter,    Aug. 
Narrative    for    1800,    4;     do.,    1813,       29,    1906.      Sprague,   Annals    of   the 
5-6.    Durrie,  Steele  Family,  24,  46.       Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  347. 
Dwight,  Strong  Family,  i,  50.     H.  F. 


SOLOMON  STODDARD,  the  second  son  of  Solomon  Stod- 
dard  (Yale  1756),  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  was 
born  on  the  ancestral  estate  in  that  town  on  February  18, 
1771.  His  elder  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1787. 

After  completing  his  Collegiate  course,  he  entered  as  a 
law  student  the  office  of  Governor  Caleb  Strong  (Harvard 
1764),  of  Northampton. 

On  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  practiced  law  for  a  year 
and  a  half  in  Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  and  then 
settled  for  the  rest  of  his  life  in  his  native  town.  Here  he 
continued  the  active  duties  of  his  profession  until  1810, 
when  he  was  chosen  Register  of  Deeds  for  the  County  of 
Hampshire. 

In  1821  he  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  County  Courts, 
which  office  he  resigned  in  1837.  He  was  several  times 
sent  by  the  town  as  one  of  their  Representatives  to  the 
General  Court  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  he  filled  more- 
over with  scrupulous  fidelity  many  offices  of  trust  in  the 
region  of  his  residence. 


694  Yale  College 

He  retired  from  public  life  at  the  age  of  67,  and  died  in 
Northampton  on  October  16,  1860,  the  last  survivor  of  his 
Class,  in  his  9<Dth  year. 

He  married  on  November  29,  1799,  Sarah,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Benjamin  and  Sarah  (Homes)  Tappan,  of  North- 
ampton, who  died  in  Northampton,  April  27,  1852,  in  her 
8  ist  year. 

Their  children  were  seven  sons  and  one  daughter.  The 
eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1820,  and  the  youngest 
in  1838.  The  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Albert  Smith 
(Middlebury  College  1831). 

Mr.  Stoddard  was  of  a  modest,  retiring  disposition,  and 
a  man  of  unswerving  integrity  and  uprightness.  The 
chief  glory  of  his  character  was  his  constant  and 
exemplary  piety.  To  the  period  of  his  last  illness,  his 
mental  powers  were  active,  and  he  kept  himself  familiar 
with  all  the  political  and  religious  movements  of  the  world. 

A  copy  of  his  portrait  is  given  in  the  Stoddard  Family. 


AUTHORITIES. 

American  Ancestry,  v,  79.      N.  Y.       Family   (1865),  80-83. 
Observer,  Oct.  25,  1860.       Stoddard 


SAMUEL  THOMPSON,  the  next  younger  brother  of  the 
Rev.  James  Thompson,  of  the  preceding  Class,  was  born  in 
Woodbury,  Connecticut,  on  November  15,  1770. 

After  leaving  College  he  studied  medicine,  and  settled  in 
practice  in  the  town  of  New  Milford,  Connecticut. 

He  was,  like  his  brothers,  a  man  of  undoubted  talents, 
but  an  early  disappointment  in  love  drove  him  into  intem- 
perance. Finally,  for  a  change  of  associates  and  of 
habits,  he  sailed  in  the  year  1800  for  the  island  of  St. 
Thomas,  in  the  West  Indies ;  but  shortly  after  his  arrival 
there  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  yellow  fever,  at  the  age  of  30. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Cothren,  Hist,  of  Woodbury,  i,  732,  735. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  695 


JESSE  TOWNSEND,  the  second  son  and  child  of  David  and 
Elizabeth  (Fowler)  Townsend,  of  that  part  of  Hebron 
which  is  included  in  the  present  township  of  Andover,  Con- 
necticut, was  born  there  on  January  13,  1766.  He  was 
prepared  for  College,  and  for  the  ministry,  by  his  pastor, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Lockwood  (Yale  1745). 

He  was  admitted  to  membership  in  the  College  Church 
on  profession  of  his  faith  at  the  end  of  his  Junior  year,  in 
September,  1789. 

He  graduated  at  the  mature  age  of  25,  and  was  imme- 
diately licensed  to  preach,  by  the  Tolland  Association  of 
Ministers,  on  October  5,  1790. 

He  married,  probably  about  this  time,  Anna,  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Eleazer  May  (Yale  1752),  of  Haddam,  Con- 
necticut, and  widow  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Fuller  (Yale 
1783),  of  Preston,  Connecticut.  She  was  two  or  three 
years  his  senior. 

On  March  21,  1792,  he  was  settled  as  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  Shelburne,  Massachusetts,  the  ser- 
mon being  preached  by  the  Rev.  David  Selden  (Yale 
1782),  of  Middle  Haddam,  in  Chatham,  Connecticut, 
whose  wife  was  an  elder  sister  of  Mrs.  Townsend. 

After  a  ministry  of  about  five  years  he  was  dismissed 
from  this  charge  on  April  12,  1797. 

On  June  20,  1798,  he  was  installed  over  a  Congregational 
Church  in  Durham,  then  known  as  Freehold,  Greene 
County,  New  York,  where  he  remained  for  some  twelve 
or  thirteen  years. 

After  this  he  preached  for  about  five  years  in  Madison, 
New  York ;  and  then  had  charge  of  an  academy  in  Utica, 
New  York,  for  one  year. 

In  1816  he  removed  to  Palmyra,  in  Wayne  County,  and 
on  August  29,  1817,  he  was  installed  over  the  Western 
Presbyterian  Church  in  that  place,  with. which  he  remained 
for  about  three  years. 


696  Yale  College 

In  1820  or  1821  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Illinois, 
and  accepted  a  commission  from  the  American  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society,  under  which  he  labored  with  great 
fidelity  in  that  State  and  in  Missouri.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  the  first  Presbyterian  clergyman  resident  in  those 
States. 

In  1826  he  returned  to  Palmyra,  and  from  January, 
1827,  to  1831,  was  stated  supply  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Sodus.  After  that 
date  he  continued  to  live  in  Palmyra,  supplying  vacant 
churches  for  most  of  the  time. 

Throughout  his  career  he  was  unwearied  in  labor,  and 
besides  his  pastoral  service  he  had  usually  young  men 
under  his  tuition  preparing  for  College. 

He  died  in  Palmyra,  after  a  protracted  illness,  from  an 
affection  of  the  heart,  on  July  14,  1838,  aged  72^  years. 

His  widow  died  on  April  13,  1846,  aged  83  years. 

Their  children  were  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  of 
whom  survived  their  parents. 

He  published  the  following : 

The  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  from  the  days  of  the 
Apostles,  to  the  year  1551,  abridged  from  the  first  five  volumes  of 
Milner's  Church  History.  Utica,  1816.  8°,  pp.  744.  [B.  PubL 

This  abridgment  was  extensively  and  favorably  known. 

He  also  contributed  two  articles  to  the  Connecticut  Evangelical 
Magazine,  as  follows: — ' 

An  account  of  a  work  of  divine  grace  in  a  revival  of  religion  in 
Durham,  in  vol.  2,  pp.  469-71  (June,  1802)  ; 

A  Letter  on  a  Revival  of  Religion  in  New-Durham,  in  vol.  4,  pp. 
65-67  (August,  1803). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Hotchkin,  Hist,  of  Western  N.  Y.,  Mass.,  325-28.  Sprague,  Annals  of 
366,  377.  Packard,  Hist,  of  Churches  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  iv,  572.  .  Pres.  Stiles, 
and  Ministers  in  Franklin  County,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  365. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  697 

BENJAMIN  TRUMBULL,  the  only  son  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Benjamin  Trumbull  (Yale  1759)  who  survived  infancy, 
was  born  in  North  Haven,  Connecticut,  on  September  24, 
1769. 

He  remained  in  New  Haven  for  two  years  after  gradua- 
tion, filling  the  office  of  College  Butler,  and  pursuing  the 
study  of  law. 

On  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  returned  to  the  vicinity 
of  the  birthplace  of  his  parents,  and  settled  in  Colchester, 
Connecticut,  where  he  had  a  long  career  of  usefulness. 
He  was  sent  to  the  Legislature  as  a  Representative  eleven 
times  between  1807  and  1831,  and  for  about  twenty  years 
(1818-38)  was  Judge  of  the  Probate  Districts  of  East 
Haddam  and  Colchester. 

He  married  on  March  15,  1800,  Elizabeth  (or  Betsey), 
eldest  daughter  of  Dr.  Elisha  and  Elizabeth  (Selden) 
Mather,  of  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  who  bore  him  seven 
sons  and  four  daughters,  and  died  on  October  20,  1828, 
in  her  47th  year. 

In  1844  Judge  Trumbull  removed  to  Michigan,  to  reside 
near  his  children,  one  of  whom  was  the  Hon.  Lyman  Trum- 
bull, later  a  Senator  in  Congress  from  Illinois. 

He  died  in  Henrietta,  Jackson  County,  Michigan,  on 
June  14,  1850,  in  his  8ist  year. 

He  was  a  man  of  pure  morals  and  strict  integrity,  and 
in  his  later  years  an  example  of  piety  and  devotion. 


AUTHORITIES. 

H.  E.  Mather,  Mather  Family,  168,       Diary,    iii,    475.       Walworth,    Hyde 
246.     N.  E.  Hist,  and  Geneal.  Regis-       Genealogy,  i,  586-87. 
ter,  xliii,  256.     Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 


BENJAMIN  WOOSTER,  the  fourth  of  six  children,  and 
third  son,  of  Wait  Wooster,  a  merchant  in  Waterbury, 
Connecticut,  and  grandson  of  Abraham  Wooster,  was  born 
in  Waterbury  on  October  29,  1762.  His  mother  was 
Phebe,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Scott)  Warner, 


698  Yale  College 

of  Waterbury.  She  was  left  a  widow,  in  destitute  circum- 
stances, in  1770. 

When  only  fourteen  this  son  enlisted  for  four  months' 
service  under  General  David  Wooster  (Yale  1738),  who 
was  a  half-brother  of  his  grandfather.  In  May,  1777,  he 
enlisted  in  the  Continental  army  for  three  years,  and  in 
that  service  shared  the  sufferings  of  the  winters  at  Valley 
Forge  and  at  Morristown. 

After  his  discharge  he  spent  three  or  four  years  in 
Waterbury,  busy  as  a  hired  laborer  during  the  summers 
and  at  school  during  the  winters.  His  ambition  was  here 
aroused,  and  he  next  spent  a  winter  at  the  academy  in 
Lebanon  Crank,  now  Columbia,  Connecticut,  where  he 
formed  the  determination  to  undertake  a  collegiate  course, 
with  the  purpose  of  entering  the  ministry. 

In  March  of  his  Senior  year  in  College  he  united  with 
the  College  Church  on  profession  of  faith. 

During  his  Senior  year  he  taught  school  in  New  Haven, 
and  he  continued  in  the  same  position  for  some  time  after 
graduation  while  also  reading  theology  under  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards. 

He  soon  left  this  school  to  take  charge  of  the  academy  in 
Waterbury,  where  he  continued  his  theological  studies 
with  the  Rev.  Mark  Leavenworth.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Western  Association  of  New  Haven  County 
in  May,  1792, — having  applied  for  licensure  eight  months 
earlier,  when  he  was  not  accepted  on  account  of  his  doubt 
of  the  consciousness  of  the  soul  in  the  intermediate  state. 

His  early  preaching  was  in  vacant  pulpits  in  Connecti- 
cut, and  he  declined  a  call  to  settle  in  South  Britain  society, 
in  the  town  of  Southbury. 

In  September,  1793,  he  set  out,  in  company  with  the 
Rev.  Samuel  J.  Mills  (Yale  1764),  on  a  missionary  tour,  of 
two  months'  duration,  up  the  Connecticut  valley.  A  suc- 
cession of  similar  journeys,  in  seven  different  States,  fol- 
lowed, under  the  appointment  of  the  Missionary  Society  of 
Connecticut,  until  early  in  1796,  when,  after  ten  weeks' 


Biographical  Sketches,  1790  699 

fruitful  labor  in  East  Rutland,  Vermont,  he  went  to  Corn- 
wall in  the  same  State,  where  a  small  Congregational 
Church  was  struggling  to  maintain  itself. 

After  preaching  to  this  people  for  nearly  a  year,  they 
gave  him  a  substantially  unanimous  invitation  to  settle  per- 
manently. He  accepted  this  call  and  was  ordained  and 
installed  there  on  February  23,  1797,  with  an  annual  salary 
of  £80.  Shortly  before  his  ordination  he  was  married  to 
Sarah  (or  Sally),  daughter  of  Captain  and  Deacon  Israel 
Harris,  of  East  Rutland. 

He  spent  a  pleasant  and  successful  ministry  of  nearly 
five  years  in  Cornwall,  during  which  time  the  church 
increased  to  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  members. 
He  presented  his  resignation,  contrary  to  the  desire  of  his 
people,  late  in  1801,  with  a  view  to  remove  with  some  of 
his  wife's  friends  to  Ohio. 

His  dismission  was  approved  by  a  council  on  January  7, 
1802,  but  the  purpose  of  removal  to  Ohio  was  finally 
abandoned. 

He  spent  the  next  two  years  in  the  supply  of  various 
destitute  congregations,  and  in  labor  under  the  direction 
of  the  Berkshire  Missionary  Society;  and  on  July  24,  1805, 
he  was  installed,  with  a  salary  of  $230,  over  a  new  Con- 
gregational church  of  thirty-four  members  in  Fairfield, 
near  St.  Albans,  Vermont,  which  he  had  already  supplied 
since  February,  1804.  Other  and  more  promising  fields 
were  open  to  him,  but  it  was  more  consonant  with  his  nature 
to  identify  himself  with  the  fortunes  of  a  young  community 
in  a  large  and  unoccupied  field;  and  as  the  church  and 
society  were  weak,  he  reserved  at  his  settlement  the  privi- 
lege of  laboring  in  other  parishes  in  the  neighborhood  to 
supplement  his  resources.  Accordingly,  for  a  period  of 
nearly  thirty  years,  his  missionary  labors  extended  in  every 
direction  to  remote  and  destitute  places  in  Franklin  and 
adjoining  counties;  and  they  were  generously  rewarded 
with  large  additions  to  the  churches. 

In  political  sentiments  he  was  a  Federalist,  and  was  con- 


700  Yale  College 

sequently  not  in  sympathy  with  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment in  the  War  of  1812;  but  in  September,  1814,  when 
the  British  invaded  his  own  neighborhood,  he  thought  it 
his  duty  to  obey  the  call  for  volunteers,  and  was  chosen  as 
Captain  of  the  militia  company  organized  among  his 
parishioners  for  service  at  Plattsburg.  In  1827  he  was 
a  representative  of  Fairfield  in  the  Vermont  General 
Assembly  and  he  was  twice  a  member  of  the  Septennial 
Convention  called  by  the  Council  of  Censors  with  refer- 
ence to  proposed  amendments  to  the  State  Constitution. 

He  was  compelled  by  the  infirmities  of  age  to  retire  in 
1833  from  the  assiduous  labors  of  his  pastorate,  though  he 
was  never  formally  dismissed.  He  died  at  his  residence 
in  Fairfield  on  February  18,  1840,  in  his  78th  year.  The 
discourse  preached  at  his  funeral  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Worth- 
ington  Smith,  of  St.  Albans,  was  afterwards  published. 
A  full  and  discriminating  biographical  sketch  by  the  Rev. 
A.  W.  Wild  was  also  printed  in  1874. 

His  first  wife  died  of  consumption  in  Fairfield  on  Octo- 
ber 19,  1824,  at  the  age  of  51.  He  next  married,  in 
January,  1825,  Sally  Cooper,  of  Sheldon,  in  the  same 
vicinity,  who  died  on  February  8,  1866,  aged  86  years. 

His  children,  by  his  first  marriage,  were  five  sons  and 
six  daughters ;  four  of  the  sons  and  three  daughters  died 
in  early  childhood. 

He  was  a  man  of  large  stature,  erect  and  well  propor- 
tioned, with  more  of  dignity  than  of  grace  in  his  bearing. 
In  muscular  power  and  capacity  of  endurance  he  had  few 
equals.  His  mental  powers  were  of  a  superior  order,  and 
he  was  both  instructive  and  impressive  as  a  preacher.  In 
doctrine  he  was  thoroughly  Calvinistic. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,     Hist,     of     Waterbury,  193-98,  365,  379.    Matthews,  Hist,  of 

i,  Appendix,  157.     Branson,  Hist,  of  Cornwall,  Vt,    149-63-     Pres.   Stiles, 

Waterbury,   446.     Conn.    Evangelical  Literary  Diary,  iii,  413.    A.  W.  Wild, 

Magazine,    v,    232.     Dunlap's    Amer.  Biographical     Sketch     of     Rev.     B. 

Daily     Advertiser,     Oct.     12,     1791.  Wooster.    Worcester  Family,  108. 
Hemenway,   Vt.    Hist.    Gazetteer,   ii, 


Annals,  1790-91  701 


Annals,    1790-91 


Ebenezer  Gay,  Junior  (Yale  1787),  entered  on  the 
tutorship  at  the  opening  of  this  year,  in  the  place  of 
Barnabas  Bidwell  (Yale  1785),  resigned. 

In  June,  1791,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Lockwood  (Yale 
1745),  of  Andover,  died,  leaving  a  vacancy  in  the  Cor- 
poration, which  was  filled  at  Commencement  by  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Levi  Hart  (Yale  1760),  of  Preston. 
Dr.  Lockwood  left  by  will  a  bequest  to  the  Library,  from 
which  a  fund  of  $1,122  was  realized. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  a  Fresh- 
man, Jehu  Clark  (Yale  1794),  in  November,  1790,  gives  a 
glimpse  of  the  daily  routine  of  that  date: 

The  Students  here  are  not  in  want  of  exercises.  At  half  an  hour 
after  five  in  the  morning  the  Bel  rings  which  calls  us  all  to  arise, 
&  at  the  toleing  of  the  same  which  is  soon  after  we  all  walk  to  the 
Chappel,  attend  prayers  and  then  retire  to  our  rooms.  In  about  half 
an  hour  we  are  cald  to  restation  which  continues  till  about  eight. 
Immediately  after  this  we  go  to  breckfast,  after  this  we  return  to 
our  rooms  to  our  studies.  Then  again  by  the  ringing  of  the  bel  at 
eleven  we  are  called  to  restation.  Soon  after  we  go  to  dinner,  also 
a  little  before  five  in  the  afternoon  we  attend  restation  and  from 
thence  to  prayers  in  the  chappel.  Directly  after  we  go  to  supper  and 
from  thence  we  retire  to  our  rooms  in  College  and  after  a  reason- 
able time  retire  to  sleep.  To  these  rounds  of  duties  each  Student 
is  compeld  to  attend  and  on  failier  thereof  a  fine  is  inflicted  for 
each  offence.  . 


702  Yale  College 


Class  of  1791  Sketches, 


*Platt  Buffett  *i85o 

*Amos  Cooke,  A.M.  1809  *i8io 

*Stephanus  Elliott,  LL.D.  1819  et  Harv.  1822  et 

Columb.   1825,  in  Coll.  Med.  Car.  Austr.  Hist. 

Nat.  et  Botan.  Prof.  *i83O 

*Enos  Foote  "1840 

*Maltby  Gelston,  A.M.  "1856 

* Jacobus  Gould,  A.M.,  LL.D.  1819,  Tutor,  Reipubl. 

Conn.  Cur.  Supr.  Jurid. 
*Rogerns  Harrison 

*Samuel  Miles  Hopkins,  1828,  LL.D.  1828,  e  Congr. 
*Erastus  Huntington 
*Levi  Ives  *i8n 

^Gardiner  Kellogg  *i826 

*Lyman  Law,  e  Congr.  *i842 

*Noachus  Linsly,  A.M.  et  Guilielm.  1795,  Tutor        "1814 

*  Smith  Miles  *i83O 
*Solomon  Morgan  *i8i2 
*Guilielmus  Nash  *i829 
*Benjamin  Parsons,  A.M. 

^Johannes  Douglas  Perkins,  A.M. 

*Petrus  Buell  Porter,  Reipubl.  Nov.  Ebor.  Seer.,  e 

Congr.,  Rerumpubl.  Foed.  Milit.  Seer. 
*Daniel  Rose 
*Eliphalet  Stjohn 
*Dudleius  Saltonstall  *i824 

*Barzillai  Slosson  *i8i3 

* Daniel  Smith,  A.M.,  Socius  *i846 

*Josias  Stebbins,  A.M.,  Tutor  *i829 

*Elija  Waterman,  A.M.  1811 

*  Johannes  Whittelsey 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  703 

PLATT  BUFFETT  was  baptized  in  Huntington,  Long 
Island,  on  January  13,  1765, — being  perhaps  a  son  of 
Joseph  Buffett,  Junior,  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Buffett. 

After  graduation  he  studied  divinity,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  Western  Association  of  New  Haven 
County  on  October  30,  1792. 

He  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Stanwich  parish,  in  Greenwich,  Connecticut,  on  May  25, 
1796,  and  served  that  people  with  fidelity  until  his  retire- 
ment on  June  30,  1835.  He  also  during  these  years  gave 
much  time  to  the  instruction  of  youth. 

His  closing  years  were  spent  in  Stanwich,  where  he  died 
on  May  25,  1850,  in  his  86th  year.  He  retained  the  use  of 
his  mental  faculties  until  the  last,  and  was  deeply  interested 
in  all  good  works. 

He  married,  on  February  8,  1797,  Hannah,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac  Lewis  (Yale  1765),  of 
Horseneck  Parish  in  Greenwich.  Their  children  were  two 
sons  and  two  daughters.  The  elder  son  was  graduated 
here  in  1819,  and  followed  his  father's  profession.  The 
elder  daughter  married  the  Rev.  Samuel  Howe  (Yale 
1827),  and  the  younger  daughter  married  his  classmate, 
the  Rev.  Henry  Durant. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  iv,       54.     Lewisiana,  vi, 
94.     Huntington  ist  Church  Records, 


AMOS  COOKE,  a  son  of  Judge  Joseph  P.  Cooke  (Yale 
1750),  and  a  brother  of  Daniel  B.  Cooke  (Yale  1788),  was 
born  in  Danbury,  Connecticut,  on  October  21,  1773. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  but  on  account  of 
feeble  health  he  was  unable  to  practice,  and  for  employ- 
ment occupied  himself  with  the  business  of  the  country 
store  in  his  native  town  which  his  father  had  formerly 


704  Yale  College 

conducted.  His  weakness  gradually  increased,  and  he 
died  in  Danbury  on  November  13,  1810,  aged  37  years. 

He  married  Sally  Worthington,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Goodrich  (Yale  1783),  of  Ridgefield,  Con- 
necticut, and  had  by  her  one  son,  who  was  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1827,  and  one  daughter. 

She  next  married  the  Hon.  Frederick  Wolcott  (Yale 
1786),  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  died  in  that  town 
on  September  14,  1842,  aged  57  years. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Fowler,  Chauncey  Memorials,  167,       of    a    Lifetime,    i,    323-38,    401-02. 
349.    S.   G.    Goodrich,   Recollections       Wolcott  Memorial,  314,  380-81,  406. 


STEPHEN  ELLIOTT,  the  third  son  of  William  and  Mary 
Gibbes  Elliott,  of  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  was  born 
in  Beaufort  on  November  n,  1771.  His  father  died  in 
his  infancy.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
Nathaniel  and  Mary  (Gibbes)  Barn  well. 

He  came  under  the  instruction  of  the  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes 
(Yale  1783)  in  his  boyhood,  and  by  his  advice  was  brought 
to  New  Haven  in  December,  1787,  and  put  under  the 
tuition  of  Simeon  Baldwin  (Yale  1781),  to  complete  his 
preparation  for  College.  After  two  months'  study  he  was 
admitted  to  the  Freshman  Class  on -February  n,  1788. 
His  College  career  was  highly  honorable,  and  in  December 
of  his  Senior  year  he  was  selected  by  his  classmates  to 
deliver  a  funeral  oration  on  a  recently  deceased  classmate. 

On  his  return  home  after  graduation  he  applied  himself 
to  agricultural  pursuits  and  to  literary  and  scientific 
studies ;  and  as  part  of  his  paternal  estate  lay  in  Georgia, 
he  was  induced  to  pass  his  winters  in  that  State  and  his 
summers  at  Beaufort. 

As  early  as  1793  he  was  sent  to  the  South  Carolina 
Legislature  as  a  Representative  from  the  Parish  of  St. 
Helena ;  and  he  was  several  times  re-elected  as  a  Federal- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  705 

ist,  at  first  to  the  House  and  afterwards  to  the  Senate, 
but  in  1800  retired  from  public  life,  and  afterwards 
devoted  his  attention  especially  to  the  study  of  botany. 

In  1795  he  married  Esther,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  James 
Habersham,  Junior,  and  Esther  (Wylly)  Habersham,  of 
Georgia. 

He  was  elected  on  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  in  1808, 
to  succeed  him  in  the  State  Senate,  and  continued  to  hold 
this  office  until  the  establishment  at  his  instigation  of  the 
Bank  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina  in  1812,  when  he  was 
unanimously  chosen  as  its  President. 

This  occasioned  his  removal  to  Charleston,  and  he 
retained  by  annual  re-elections  the  presidency  of  the  Bank 
until  his  death. 

In  Charleston  he  found  himself  in  association  with  a 
group  of  literary  friends  who  supplied  a  stimulus  for  his 
own  exertion.  He  was  prominently  instrumental  in  the 
founding  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of 
South  Carolina,  in  1813,  and  served  as  its  President  until 
his  death. 

In  June,  1820,  on  the  death  of  President  Maxcy,  he  was 
appointed  by  the  Trustees  President  of  the  South  Carolina 
College,  in  Columbia.  He  signified  his  intention  to  accept 
the  office ;  but  unselfishly  withdrew,  almost  immediately,  on 
learning  that  his  retirement  from  the  Bank  would  affect 
it  unfavorably. 

He  aided  in  securing  the  establishment  of  the  Medical 
College  of  South  Carolina  in  1823-25,  and  was  chosen  the 
first  Professor  of  Natural  History  and  Botany,  in  April, 
1824. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred 
on  him  by  Yale  in  1819,  by  Harvard  in  1822,  and  by 
Columbia  in  1825.  His  attainments  fully  warranted  these 
tributes,  and  his  character  and  work  won  the  highest 
respect.  His  name  is  preserved  in  the  Elliott  Society  of 
Natural  History,  founded  at  Charleston  in  1853. 

45 


7o6  Yale  College 

He  died  at  Charleston  on  March  28,  1830,  in  his  59th 
year. 

An  Eulogium  delivered  by  Dr.  James  Moultrie  was 
afterwards  published. 

His  son,  bearing  the  same  name,  was  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1824,  and  became  the  first  Protestant  Episcopal 
Bishop  of  Georgia. 

He  published : 

1.  An  Address  to  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  South- 
Carolina  ;   delivered  in  Charleston,  on  Wednesday,  the  loth  August, 
1814.    Charleston,  1814.    4°,  pp.  20. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    U.  S.    Y.  C. 
This   excellent  Address,   giving  a   comprehensive  view   of   the 
sciences   within   the   scope  of  the   Society,   was   reprinted   in   the 
Aiialectic  Magazine  for  August,  1816  (vol.  8,  pp.  154-73). 

2.  Report  of  the  President  and  Directors  of  the  Bank  of  South- 
Carolina  to  the  Legislature.     1819. 

This  elaborate  Report,  on  the  currency,  is  understood  to  have 
been  written  by  Mr.  Elliott. 

3.  Memorial  of  the  Citizens  of  Charleston  to  Congress  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Tariff.    1820. 

As  Chairman  of  the  Town  Meeting  at  which  this  Memorial  was 
voted,  Mr.  Elliott  was  required  to  draft  it. 

4.  A    Sketch   of   the   Botany   of    South-Carolina   and   Georgia. 
Charleston,  1821-24.     2  volumes.     8°,  pp.  iv,  606,  6  pi.  -f-  viii,  743, 
6  pi.  [B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Harv.     Y.  C. 

Originally  published  in  thirteen  parts  (1816-24).  On  its  publi- 
cation it  easily  took  the  first  rank  among  similar  works  issued  in 
this  country. 

5.  A  Catalogue  of  the  Books  belonging  to  the  Charleston  Literary 
Society.  . .     Charleston,  1826.    8°,  pp.  xvi,  375.      [B.  Ath.    Y.  C. 

Mr.  Elliott  devised  the  scheme  of  classification  here  adopted,  and 
superintended  the  preparation  of  the  catalogue. 

6.  An  Address,  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  Medical  College, 
in  Charleston,   (S.  C.)  on  Monday,  the  I3th  of  November,  1826. 
Charleston,  1826.     8°,  pp.  23  -f-  pi. 

[A.  A.  S.    B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/pi  707 

The  Address  is  mainly  occupied  with  an  argument  for  building  up 
institutions  in  South  Carolina  for  the  education  of  its  own  citizens. 

He  also  edited  The  S-outhern  Review  for  the  first  five  volumes,  or 
ten  numbers  (Charleston,  February,  i828-May,  1830),  and  con- 
tributed seventeen  articles  to  its  pages  during  this  period. 

He  contributed  one  article  to  the  Journal  of  the  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  for  August,  1818  (volume  I,  pp. 
320-26)  : — Observations  on  the  genus  Glycine,  and  some  of  its 
kindred  genera. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.  Ancestry,  v,  129-30.     Moul-       Stiles,   Literary   Diary,   iii,  291,  305, 
trie,  Eulogium  on  S.  Elliott.    Pres.      407. 


ENDS  FOOTE  was  born  in  Northford  Society,  in  (North) 
Branford,  Connecticut,  on  March  4,  1772,  the  second  son 
of  Samuel  and  Anna  (Harrison)  Foote,  and  grandson  of 
Daniel  and  Sarah  (Thompson)  Foote,  of  Northford. 

He  settled  upon  graduation  in  Southwick,  Massachu- 
setts, next  the  Connecticut  border,  and  was  a  prominent 
merchant  and  public-spirited  citizen  in  that  community  for 
over  forty  years.  He  was  the  first  postmaster,  and  a 
Representative  of  the  town  in  the  State  Legislature  for 
six  years  between  1808  and  1817;  and  for  two  years 
(1831-32)  a  member  of  the  State  Senate.  He  was  also 
a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  Massachu- 
setts in  1820,  and  a  Presidential  Elector  in  1824. 

He  was  for  many  years  an  officer  in  the  militia,  ending 
with  the  rank  of  Colonel. 

He  died  in  Southwick  on  June  20,  1840,  in  his  69th  year. 

He  married  Roxana  Perkins,  who  died  in  1842. 

They  had  a  number  of  children,  all  of  whom  died  young, 
except  one  daughter,  who  married  and  left  descendants. 
Two  of  his  nephews  (sons  of  Colonel  Thaddeus  Foote) 
were  graduated  here,  in  1844  and  1850  respectively. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Goodwin,  Foote  Family,  197,  230. 


708  Yale  College 

MALTBY  GELSTON  was  the  only  child  of  Hugh  Gelston, 
a  farmer  of  Southampton,  Long  Island,  and  grandson  of 
Judge  Hugh  and  Mary  (Maltby)  Gelston,  of  Belfast, 
Ireland,  and  Southampton,  where  he  was  born  on  July  17, 
1766.  His  mother  was  Phebe,  daughter  of  David  and 
Phebe  Howell,  of  Southampton.  In  accordance  with  his 
father's  plans,  he  at  first  expected  to  remain  upon  the 
farm;  but  ultimately  a  strong  conviction  of  the  duty  of 
entering  the  ministry  led  him  to  seek  a  Collegiate  course. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Jonathan  Edwards,  of  New  Haven,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Western  Association  of  New  Haven  County 
on  June  3,  1794.  Meanwhile  he  had  also  taught  for  some 
time  in  an  Academy  in  Jamaica,  Long  Island. 

He  supplied  the  pulpit  in  various  places,  as  in  the  West 
Parish  in  Granville,  Massachusetts  (now  Tolland),  in 
Roxbury,  Connecticut  (in  1795),  and  in  West  Rupert, 
Vermont;  but  declined  invitations  to  settle  on  account  of 
feeble  health.  Finally,  in  the  fall  of  1796  he  came  to  the 
small  Congregational  Church  (of  twenty  members)  in 
North  New  Fairfield,  afterwards  Sherman,  Connecticut; 
and  having  accepted  their  call  to  a  settlement,  was  ordained 
there  on  April  26,  1797,  with  an  annual  salary  of  £100. 

During  his  ministry  of  forty-five  years,  two  hundred 
and  forty-nine  persons  were  added  to  the  church.  He  was 
a  man  of  feeble  bodily  constitution,  but  of  energetic  and 
regular  habits.  The  only  deacon  of  the  church  died  in 
1810,  and  for  three  years  Mr.  Gelston  served  both  as  pastor 
and  deacon.  For  several  years  there  were  but  three  male 
members  of  the  church. 

He  married,  on  July  17,  1798,  Jane  Mills,  third  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Joel  Bordwell  (Yale  1756),  of  Kent,  Connecti- 
cut. She  bore  him  three  sons  and  four  daughters,  and 
died  in  Sherman  on  April  26,  1850,  aged  77  years. 

He  was  relieved  from  active  service  in  1842,  but  con- 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  709 

tinued  in  Sherman,  where  he  died  on  December  15,  1856, 
in  his  9  ist  year. 

It  was  due  to  his  wife's  economy  and  industry,  and  to 
the  pecuniary  help  extended  by  his  father,  that  he  was  able 
to  support  himself  in  this  narrow  field ;  but  his  influence  as 
a  pastor  and  friend  was  most  happy,  and  his  work  was 
crowned  with  success. 

He  was  esteemed  by  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  for  his 
prudence  and  discretion,  and  was  eminently  useful  in 
counsel. 

His  portrait  is  prefixed  to  the  Discourse  delivered  at  his 
funeral,  by  the  Rev.  Fosdick  Harrison. 

His  second  and  third  sons  were  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1827  and  1843  respectively,  and  entered  the  ministry:  the 
third  daughter  married  Daniel  W.  Northrop,  M.D.  (Yale 
Medical  School  1825). 


AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.    Congregational    Year-Book       ston.     N.    Y.    Genealogical    Record, 
for  1857, 108-09.    Dwight  Genealogy,       ii,   134,   136-37.     Onderdonk,  Queens 
ii,     1072-73.        Harrison,    Discourse       County  in  olden  times,  79-80. 
delivered  at  the  Funeral  of  M.  Gel- 


JAMES  GOULD,,  a  son  of  Dr.  William  Gould,  Junior,  of 
Branford,  Connecticut,  and  brother  of  Dr.  Orchard  Gould 
(Yale  1783),  was  born  in  Branford  on  December  5,  1770. 

For  a  year  after  graduation  he  taught  in  Baltimore,  and 
then  returned  to  New  Haven  as  a  law-student  under  Judge 
Charles  Chauncey. 

He  was  called  to  a  tutorship  in  the  College  in  October, 
1793,  and  resigned  that  office  in  March,  1795. 

He  then  pursued  the  study  of  the  law  with  Tapping 
Reeve  (Princeton  1763),  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut;  and 
soon  after  his  admission  to  the  bar  and  settlement  in  that 
town,  Mr.  Reeve,  on  his  appointment  (in  1798)  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  selected  him  as  his  associate 
in  instruction.  Judge  Reeve  continued  for  many  years  to 


Yale  College 

J5hare  in  the  conduct  of  the  Law  School,  which  he  had 
established  in  1784;  but  in  1820  it  was  left  solely  in  Mr. 
Gould's  hands,  nor  did  its  high  reputation  suffer. 

In  May,  1816,  Mr.  Gould  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court;  but  the  political  revolution  of  1818  in 
Connecticut  returned  him  to  private  life. 

He  took  no  further  share  in  public  employments,  and  on 
account  of  greatly  impaired  health  never  resumed  practice ; 
but  confined  himself  wholly  (so  far  as  severe  infirmities 
would  permit)  to  his  School,  until  he  relinquished  it  in 

1833- 

He  died  in  Litchfield  on  May  n,  1838,  in  his  68th  year. 

Judge  Gould  was  of  handsome  person,  extremely  courte- 
ous in  bearing,  and  in  private  intercourse  social  and  witty. 
A  copy  of  his  portrait  is  in  the  possession  of  the  College, 
which  has  also  been  repeatedly  engraved,  as  in  Hollis- 
ter's  History  of  Connecticut,  and  in  Harper's  Magazine, 
volume  54. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred 
on  him  by  Yale  in  1819. 

He  married,  on  October  21,  1798,  Sally  McCurdy,  the 
eldest  child  of  the  Hon.  Uriah  Tracy  (Yale  1778),  of 
Litchfield,  by  whom  he  had  eight  sons  and  one  daughter, 
all  of  whom  survived  him,  except  his  third  son.  The 
first,  third,  and  fifth  sons  were  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1816, 
1824,  and  1827,  respectively.  Two  other  sons  were  well 
known  as  authors.  Mrs.  Gould  died  on  May  20,  1847, 
in  her  65th  year. 

Judge  Gould  was  a  critical  scholar,  a  finished  writer,  and 
a  lucid  and  methodical  lecturer. 

As  an  advocate  he  was  clear  and  logical,  and  carried  into 
the  court-room  the  same  classical  finish  which  distin- 
guishes his  writings. 

He  published : 

i.  An  Oration,  pronounced  at  Litchfield,  on  the  Anniversary  of 
the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  the  year  1798. 
Litchfield,  1798.  8°,  pp.  32.  [B.  Ath.  Y.  C. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  711 

The  Oration  is  in  the  main  the  same  which  he  delivered  at  New 
Haven  in  1795,  before  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

2.  An  Oration,  pronounced  at  New-Haven,  before  the  Connecti- 
cut Alpha  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  September  13,   1825. 
New-Haven,  1825.    8°,  pp.  31.  [B.  Publ.    Y.  C. 

On  the  importance  of  the  cultivation  of  literature  and  science. 

3.  A  Treatise  on  the  Principles  of  Pleading  in  civil  actions.    Bos- 
ton, 1832.    8°.  [N.  Y.  State  Libr. 

The  same.    Second  edition.    New  York,  1836.    8°.     [Brit.  Mus. 
Several  later  editions  were  issued  by  his  sons. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Board-man,  Sketches  of  the  Litch-  51,  56-57.  Payne,  Litchfield  and 
field  Bar,  26-28.  Hist,  of  Litchfield  Morris  Inscriptions,  76.  Pres.  Stiles, 
County,  1881,  21-22.  Hollister,  Hist.  Literary  Diary,  iii,  504,  508,  555,  559. 
of  Conn.,  ii,  601-03.  Litchfield  Woodruff,  Litchfield  Geneal.  Regis- 
County  Centennial  Celebration,  50-  ter,  100,  221. 


ROGER  HARRISON  was  born  in  Northford  Society,  in  the 
present  township  of  North  Branford,  Connecticut,  on 
February  2,  1769,  being  the  second  son  and  third  child  of 
Samuel  Harrison,  Junior,  of  Branford.  His  mother  was 
Rebekah,  daughter  of  John  and  Lydia  Harrison,  of  Bran- 
ford. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  New  Haven  East  Association  of  Ministers 
on  May  26,  1795. 

In  1797  a  Congregational  Church  was  organized  in  the 
West  parish  of  Granville,  Massachusetts,  and  over  this  Mr. 
Harrison  was  ordained  and  installed  on  January  23,  1798. 
He  retained  his  pastorate  for  twenty-four  years,  being  dis- 
missed on  February  18,  1822.  The  parish  was  incorpo- 
rated as  a  separate  town,  by  the  name  of  Tolland,  in  1810. 

Mr.  Harrison  continued  to  reside  in  Tolland  after  his 
dismissal,  and  filled  various  offices  of  importance,  such  as 
those  of  postmaster  and  town-clerk.  He  also  served  as  a 


712  Yale  College 

Representative  in  the  General  Court  for  three  years,  in 

1833-35- 
He  died  in  Tolland  on  August  31,  1853,  m  his  8$th  year. 

He  was  twice  married  and  left  one  son. 

He  was  distinguished  for  his  musical  gifts,  and  wrote 
one  or  more  hymns  which  were  in  popular  use,  to  tunes 
composed  by  himself.  His  voice  was  also  very  effective 
musically. 

His  remarks  at  the  commemoration  of  the  fifty  years' 
ministry  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  M.  Cooley  (Yale  1792) 
in  Granville,  are  printed  in  the  Granville  Jubilee,  1845, 
pp.  9-12. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Holland,  Hist,  of  Western  Mass.,       Amer.  Pulpit,  ii,  531. 
ii,    139.       Sprague,    Annals    of    the 


SAMUEL  MILES  HOPKINS,  son  of  Samuel  Hopkins,  of 
Salem  Society  (now  Naugatuck),  in  Waterbury,. Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  Stephen  and  Patience  (Bronson) 
Hopkins,  of  Waterbury,  was  born  on  May  9,  1772.  His 
mother  was  Molly,  daughter  of  David  Miles,  of  Walling- 
ford,  Connecticut. 

After  spending  several  years  in  the  family  of  his  father's 
half-brother,  Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins,  of  Hartford,  attending 
the  Grammar  School  and  reading  medicine,  he  entered  the 
Sophomore  Class  in  October,  1788.  His  own  account  of 
his  College  course  is  this : 

By  the  diligent  improvement  of  time  I  laid  in  a  stock  of  knowl- 
edge upon  many  subjects,  particularly  history  .  .  The  spirit  of  Yale 
College  was  at  that  time  a  spirit  of  literary  ambition  and  of  infidelity. 
I  was  not  in  good  favor  with  the  Faculty,  and  took  no  pains  to  con- 
ciliate their  good  will.  But  they  gave  me  one  of  the  three  English 
orations,  which  were  then  reputed  the  highest  appointments.  I 
refused  to  attend  at  commencement ;  and  they  refused  me  my  degree. 

In  the  fall  of  1791  he  entered  the  office  of  Judge  Reeve 
in  Litchfield,  and  after  only  eighteen  months'  study  he 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/pr  713 

was  found  worthy  of  admission  to  the  bar.  In  April  of 
the  same  year  (1793)  he  removed  to  Poughkeepsie,  New 
York,  and  after  three  weeks  of  intense  application  he 
acquired  such  a  knowledge  of  the  practice  of  the  New  York 
courts  as  to  pass  a  successful  examination.  His  license 
was  dated  on  the  day  he  was  21  years  old. 

He  began  business  as  a  lawyer  in  the  young  village  of 
Oxford,  in  Chenango  County;  but  in  1794  he  removed  to 
New  York  City,  on  the  invitation  of  James  Watson  (Yale 
1776),  who  entered  into  an  extensive  and  liberal  arrange- 
ment with  him  for  the  survey  and  sale  abroad  of  Virginia 
lands.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  scheme,  Mr.  Hopkins 
visited  England  and  the  Continent  during  1796  and  1797; 
and  enjoyed  the  experience  greatly,  though  failing  of  his 
immediate  object. 

On  his  return  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  where  he  married  on  October  5,  1800, 
Sarah  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  Moses  and  Sarah 
(Woolsey)  Rogers.  While  residing  there  he  assisted  in 
founding  the  New  England  Society,  of  which  he  served  as 
the  first  Secretary. 

In  1810,  in  company  with  a  brother  of  his  wife,  he  pur- 
chased two  tracts  of  land  on  the  Genesee  River,  and 
engaged  on  a  large  scale  in  the  business  of  farming.  But, 
although  conducted  with  abundant  energy  and  skill,  the 
enterprise  turned  out  unfortunate,  from  the  overthrow 
of  credit  and  disappearance  of  currency  following  the  war. 

Meantime  he  served  for  one  term  (May,  i8i3-March, 
1815)  as  a  Representative  in  Congress,  and  for  one  ses- 
sion (1820-21)  as  a  member  of  the  State  Assembly  from 
Genesee  County.  In  1822  he  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate. 

In  1822  he  removed  to  Albany,  and  resumed  the  practice 
of  law.  In  1825  and  1826  he  was  the  reporter  of  the  Court 
of  Chancery. 

His  studies  had  led  him  to  pay  particular  attention  to  the 
subject  of  crime  and  punishment;  and  in  1826  he  was 


714  Yale  College 

appointed  by  the  Legislature  a  Commissioner,  with  two 
associates,  to  re-arrange  and  superintend  the  whole  peni- 
tentiary system  of  the  State.  He  engaged  in  this  work 
with  characteristic  enthusiasm,  and  with  his  fellow-com- 
missioners built  and  governed  the  State's  prison  at  Sing 
Sing.  The  subject  of  prison  discipline  continued  greatly 
to  interest,  and  more  or  less  to  occupy  him  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life. 

In  1828  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws  from  Yale,  and  in  this  connection  was  enrolled  with 
his  College  class. 

In  1831  he  retired  from  practice  and  removed  to  the 
village  of  Geneva,  New  York.  From  1832  to  1836  he  was 
a  Judge  of  the  State  Circuit  Court. 

His  last  years  were  spent  in  Geneva,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  an  ample  competency,  and  engrossed  in  literary  pursuits, 
horticulture,  the  society  of  friends,  and  religious  and 
philanthropic  labors. 

He  died  in  Geneva  on  October  8,  1837,  in  his  66th  year. 
His  widow  died  on  December  17,  1866,  in  her  93d  year. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  three  sons. 
The  eldest  son  became  a  Professor  in  the  United  States 
Naval  Academy,  and  the  second  son  was  graduated  at 
Amherst  College  in  1832,  having  been  for  most  of  the 
course  a  member  of  the  corresponding  Class  at  Yale. 

The  eldest  daughter  married  William  G.  Verplanck 
(Yale  1823)  ;  the  second  married  William  E.  Sill  (Hamil- 
ton Coll.  1825);  the  third  married  Charles  A.  Rose 
(Hamilton  1826) ;  and  the  youngest  married  John  M. 
Bradford  (Union  1832). 

In  person  he  was  about  six  feet  in  height  and  finely 
formed  for  strength  and  activity.  He  retained  all  his 
physical  and  mental  powers  up  to  his  last  illness.  Though 
an  admirable  converser,  he  was  not  distinguished  as  a 
public  speaker.  He  was  successively  a  Federalist,  an  Anti- 
Mason,  and  a  Whig  in  politics,  a  zealous  advocate  of 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/pi  715 

temperance,  a  colonizationist  and  a  hater  of  slavery.  For 
near  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  an  exemplary  Christian. 

An  engraving  from  his  portrait  is  given  in  Anderson's 
History  of  Waterbury,  and  another  in  the  Magazine  of 
American  History,  volume  u. 

He  published : 

1 .  Letters  concerning  the  General  Health ;   with  Notes  and  con- 
siderable additions  to  the  numbers,  as  they  lately  appeared  in  the 
New  York  Gazette. — By  a  Householder.     New-York,   1805.     8°, 
pp.  52.  .  [B.  Publ.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 

Contains  thirteen  letters,  written  in  October-November,  1805, 
called  out  primarily  by  the  dread  of  epidemics  of  yellow  fever  in 
New  York  City,  and  advocating  a  system  of  canals  for  drainage. 
The  author  was  at  the  time  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  of  the 
City. 

2.  An  Oration,  delivered  before  the  Washington  Benevolent  Soci- 
ety, in  the  City  of  New  York,  at  Zion  Church,  on  the  twenty-second 
of  February,  1809.     New- York,  1809.    8°,  pp.  20. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    N.  Y.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  Publ.  Libr. 
N.  Y.  State  Libr.    Y.  C. 

3.  An  Address,  to  the  Agricultural   Society  of  the  County  of 
Genesee,  delivered  at  Batavia,  on  the  nth  day  of  October,  1819,  by 
Samuel  M.  Hopkins,  Esq.  President  of  the  Society.    Batavia,  1819. 
1 6°,  pp.  24.  [B.  Publ. 

On  the  remedies  for  the  distress  of  the  country  after  the  war. 

4.  Speech  upon  Taxing  Bank  Stock.    Albany,  1822.    8°,  pp.  15. 

5.  Reports  of  Cases,  argued  and  determined  in  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery of  the  State  of  New  York.    Volume  I.    New-York  [Albany], 
1827.    8°,  pp.  xv,  616. 

{Brit.  Mus.     N.  Y.  State  Libr.     U.  S.     Yale  Law  School. 

The  volume  covers  the  period  from  September,  1823,  to  January, 
1826. 

6.  Extracts  from  an  Address  before  the  Saratoga  County  Temper- 
ance Society,  in  September,  1829.    12°,  pp.  8.       [A.  C.  A.    Harv. 

The  subject  is,  The  Effect  of  Ardent  Spirit. 


716  Yale  College 

7.  Correspondence  on  the  principles  of  right  reasoning,  applicable 
to  Temperance,  and  to  the  effects  of  fermented  and  distilled  liquors ; 
between  Samuel  M.  Hopkins  and  Gerrit  Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  Justin 
Edwards,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox.  With  other  papers  and 
notes,  by  the  editor.  Part  I. — Collected  and  published  by  Samuel 
M.  Hopkins.  Geneva,  1836.  8°,  pp.  112. 

[A.  C.  A.  B.  Ath.  B.  Publ.  Brit.  Mus.  M.  H.  S.  U.  T.  S. 
Y.  C. 

Written  in  reproof  of  the  immoderate  zeal  of  temperance  advo- 
cates against  fermented  liquors. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Anderson,  Hist,   of   Waterbury,   i,       N.    Y.    Geneal.    Record,   xv,    158-59. 
Appendix,  70;    iii,  823-25.     Bronson,       Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  331, 
Hist,    of    Waterbury,    416-20,    503.      420. 
Magazine  of  American  History,  xi,  35. 


ERASTUS  HUNTINGTON,  the  youngest  child  of  Deacon 
Simon  Huntington  (Yale  1741),  of  Norwich,  Connecti- 
cut, was  born  on  December  7,  1769. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  began  practice  in 
Norwich;  but  soon  abandoned  the  profession  for  manu- 
facturing and  trade. 

He  died  in  Norwich  on  February  10,  1846,  in  his  77th 
year. 

He  married,  on  March  20,  1806,  Abigail  (or  Nabby), 
youngest  child  of  Abiel  and  Mary  (Hosmer)  Hyde,  of 
Norwich,  who  died  on  July  i,  1811,  in  her  25th  year.  He 
next  married,  on  April  13,  1815,  Sarah,  daughter  of 
General  Joseph  and  Abigail  (Coit)  Williams,  of  Norwich, 
who  survived  him. 

By  his  first  wife  he  had  three  sons,  and  by  his  second 
wife  six  sons — all  of  whom  grew  to  maturity. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Dwight  Family,  ii,  579-80.     Hunt-       482.     Walworth,  Hyde  Genealogy,  i, 
ington  Family  Memoir,   160,  241-42.       395~96- 
Perkins,    Old    Houses    of    Norwich, 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/pi  7J7 

LEVI  IVES,  Junior,  the  eldest  child  of  Dr.  and  Deacon 
Levi  and  Lydia  (Augur)  Ives,  of  New  Haven,  and  grand- 
son of  Samuel  and  Mary  (Gilbert)  Ives,  of  North  Haven, 
was  born  early  in  1773.  He  was  prepared  for  College  by 
the  Rev.  Ammi  R.  Robbins  of  Norfolk,  Connecticut.  A 
younger  brother  was  graduated  here  in  1799,  and  followed 
with  distinction  his  father's  profession. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  practiced  in  New 
Haven.  He  died  here,  after  a  short  and  distressing  illness, 
on  January  31,  181 1,  aged  38  years.  The  settlement  of  his 
estate  shows  assets  (mainly  apparel)  of  about  $50,  offset 
by  debts  of  a  larger  amount. 

He  was  unmarried. 


AUTHORITIES. 
New  Haven  Colony  Hist.  Soc.  Papers,  ii,  306. 


GARDINER  KELLOGG,  the  second  son  of  Gardner  Kellogg, 
of  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  and  grandson  of  Lieutenant 
Nathaniel  and  Sarah  (Gardner)  Kellogg,  of  Hadley,  was 
born  on  September  22,  1765.  His  mother  was  Thankful, 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Thankful  (Dickinson)  Chapin,  of 
West  Springfield,  Massachusetts. 

He  studied  theology  after  graduation,  and  on  being 
licensed  to  preach  found  employment  in  missionary  service 
in  Northern  New  England. 

In  the  winter  of  1793-94  he  began  preaching  in  the  town- 
ship of  Bradford,  Orange  County,  Vermont,  and  after  a 
sufficient  trial  he  was  given  a  call  to  settle  on  September 
24,  1794,  with  a  salary  of  £75,  or  $375.  On  March  21, 
1795,  he  returned  an  affirmative  answer;  and  his  ordina- 
tion took  place  on  September  2.  His  support  was  assumed 
by  the  town,  and  in  the  course  of  time  the  arrangement 
proved  so  unpopular  that  a  vote  was  passed  in  town-meet- 
ing, in  March,  1809,  requesting  him  to  ask  for  a  dismission. 


Yale  College 

The  arrears  of  his  salary  were  paid  by  a  tax  laid  on  April 
6,  1809,  and  his  removal  to  Portland,  Maine,  followed. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1810  he  began  preaching  in 
the  vacant  pulpit  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Wind- 
ham,  Maine;  and  on  February  12,  1811,  he  was  called  to 
settle  in  the  pastorate,  at  a  salary  of  $400. 

On  April  25,  1811,  he  was  installed  as  pastor,  and  he 
continued  in  office  until  his  death,  on  November  30,  1826, 
in  his  62d  year. 

He  married,  about  1798,  Abigail  (or  Nabby),  daughter 
of  James  and  Eunice  (Kingsbury)  White,  of  Thetford, 
Vermont,  by  whom  he  had  three  daughters  and  three  sons. 

Mrs.  Kellogg  died  in  Portland,  Maine,  in  1844,  at  the 
age  of  63.  The  eldest  daughter  married  Samuel  I.  Wells 
(Dartmouth  Coll.  1814).  The  eldest  son  was  graduated 
at  Bowdoin  College  in  1827. 

Mr.  Kellogg  was  a  preacher  of  fair  ability,  moderate 
and  conciliatory  in  spirit,  conservative  in  doctrine,  and  in 
every  way  a  credit  to  his  profession. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bradford,  Hist,  of  Bradford,  57-  Appendix,  84.  Maine  Hist,  and 
60.  Hopkins,  The  Kelloggs,  i,  137,  Geneal.  Recorder,  ix,  59-61,  103-04. 
288.  Judd,  Hist,  of  Hadley,  2d  ed.,  Smith,  Hist,  of  Windham,  60. 


LYMAN  LAW  was  born  in  New  London,  Connecticut,  on 
August  19,  1770,  being  a  son  of  Judge  Richard  Law 
(Yale  1751). 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  Judge  Reeve  in 
Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  settled  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  his  native  city.  He  became  one  of  the  most 
eminent  lawyers  in  the  State,  being  a  man  of  cultivated 
address,  and  of  great  native  wit. 

He  served  as  a  Representative  in  the  State  Legislature 
during  fifteen  sessions,  between  1801  and  1810,  and  was 
Speaker  of  the  House  in  the  last  four  sessions.  He  was 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  719 

subsequently  elected  to  the  United  States  Congress  for 
three  sessions,  as  a  Federalist, — serving  from  November, 
1811,  to  March,  1817. 

He  died  in  New  London  on  February  3,  1842,  in  his  72d 
year. 

He  married  on  October  12,  1/94,  Eliza  (or  Elizabeth) 
Learned,  the  eldest  child  of  Amasa  Learned  (Yale  1772), 
of  New  London,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters. The  eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1814,  the 
second  at  Harvard  in  1819,  and  the  third  at  Yale  in  1822. 

Mrs.  Law  died  on  October  17,  1837,  in  her  64th  year. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Learned  Genealogy,  112,  219-21. 


NOAH  LINSLY,  son  of  Josiah  Linsly,  of  Branford, 
Connecticut,  was  born  on  January  2.6,  1774.  His  mother 
was  Rachel,  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Rachel  (Hubbard) 
Fowler,  of  Guilford,  Connecticut. 

He  was  graduated  with  a  high  reputation  for  scholar- 
ship, and  in  1793  was  invited  to  the  office  of  tutor  in 
Williams  College,  then  recently  incorporated.  The  appoint- 
ment was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  recommendation  of 
President  Ebenezer  Fitch,  who  left  a  tutorship  at  Yale  in 
1791  for  the  Academy  which  grew  into  Williams  College. 

He  continued  at  Williams  for  one  year,  and  spent  the 
succeeding  year  in  the  same  office  at  Yale,  where  it  was 
said  of  him  that  few  instructors  had  been  equally  success- 
ful in  gaining  the  respect  and  esteem  of  their  pupils. 

In  1795  he  removed  to  Wheeling,  Virginia,  and  entered 
upon  the  practice  of  law.  In  his  profession  he  had  great 
success. 

He  died  in  Wheeling  on  March  25,  1814,  in  his  4ist  year. 

He  was  unmarried,  and  by  his  last  will  gave  to  Yale  Col- 
lege three  thousand  dollars,  which  was  added  to  the  library 


720  Yale  College 

funds.  Many  years  later  Mr.  Linsly's  nephew,  Dr.  Jared 
Linsly,  of  the  Class  of  1826,  added  five  thousand  dollars  to 
this  fund,  the  income  of  which  is  appropriated  to  the  pur- 
chase of  books  in  the  Modern  European  Languages. 

Mr.  Linsly  also  made  provision  in  his  will  for  a  public 
school  at  Wheeling. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Amer.    Quart.    Register,    viii,    212.       546. 
Pres.  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  536, 


SMITH  MILES,  originally  Manoah  Smith  Miles,  was 
born  in  the  present  township  of  Seymour,  then  part  of 
Derby,  Connecticut,  on  March  22,  1769.  He  was  the 
eldest  child  of  Jonathan  Miles,  and  grandson  of  Jonathan 
and  Zerviah  (Wooster)  Miles,  of  Seymour,  and  was  pre- 
pared for  College  under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Mansfield, 
of  Derby.  His  mother  was  Lucy  Smith,  of  Glastonbury, 
Connecticut. 

He  was  by  early  training  a  Churchman  and  in  Septem- 
ber, 1793,  was  admitted  as  a  candidate  for  orders  in  the 
Connecticut  Diocese.  His  studies  were  pursued  under  Dr. 
Mansfield  and  Bishop  Seabury,  with  some  interruptions  on 
account  of  health,  but  finally  on  June  7,  1795,  he  was 
ordained  deacon  by  the  Bishop,  at  Stratford. 

He  was  at  first  placed  in  charge  of  Trinity  Church, 
Branford,  Christ  Church,  Guilford,  and  St.  John's  Church, 
North  Guilford;  but  in  1796  he  was  transferred  to 
the  parishes  of  Christ  Church,  at  Middle  Haddam  Land- 
ing and  Trinity  Church,  Chatham, — with  which  was 
also  joined  for  a  short  time  the  church  in  Hebron.  In 
this  field  of  labor  he  was  earnest  and  successful.  In  1812 
he  relinquished  the  charge  of  Middle  Haddam,  and  for 
the  next  few  years  gave  one-fourth  of  his  time  to  a  parish 
which  he  had  recently  organized  in  Glastonbury. 

About  the  year  1820  the  church  in  Chatham,  which  had 


Biographical  Sketches,  //pi  721 

been  gradually  increasing  during  the  period  of  his  min- 
istrations, required  the  whole  of  his  services,  and  for  the 
rest  of  his  life  this  was  the  only  scene  of  his  labors.  He 
also  kept  for  many  years  in  his  own  house  a  classical  school 
which  had  a  high  reputation.  He  was  subject  to  great 
depression  and  the  victim  of  incessant  bodily  suffering  and 
of  severe  domestic  trial. 

He  died  in  Chatham  on  January  31,  1830,  in  his  6ist 
year. 

He  was  married  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bela  Hubbard,  on 
October  8,  1796,  to  Abigail,  daughter  of  Ralph  Isaacs 
(Yale  1761),  of  Branford,  at  the  house  of  her  brother-in- 
law,  Jonathan  Ingersoll  (Yale  1766),  of  New  Haven. 

She  died  in  Chatham  on  February  3,  1827,  aged  54 
years. 

Their  children  were  two  sons  and  five  daughters.  The 
only  son  who  survived  infancy  became  a  physician. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,     Early     Conn.     Marriages,  Field,  Statistical  Account  of  Middle- 

vii,  27.     Barber,  Conn.  Hist.  Collec-  sex  County,  62,   139.       Orcutt,  Hist, 

tions,   519.     Convocation  Records  of  of  Derby,  746.     W.  C.  Sharpe,  MS. 

the  Conn.  Diocese,  45,  47-4$,  I77~78.  Letter,   Dec.    16,    1906.     F.   F.   Starr, 

Episcopal     Watchman,     iv,     234-35.  MS.   Letter,   Sept.    15,   1906. 


SOLOMON  MORGAN,  eldest  child  of  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Morgan,  who  was  pastor  of  a  Congregational  Church  in 
that  part  of  Voluntown  which  is  now  Sterling,  Connecti- 
cut, and  grandson  of  Deacon  Solomon  and  Mary  Morgan, 
of  Groton,  Connecticut,  was  probably  born  in  Groton  in 
1771.  His  mother  was  Eunice,  third  daughter  of  Captain 
Parke  and  Mary  (Latham)  Avery,  of  Groton.  In  1783 
his  father  removed  to  the  church  in  Canterbury,  Con- 
necticut. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  and  on  April  19,  1796,. 
he  married  Hannah  Willoughby,  in  Lisbon,  Connecticut. 
46 


722  Yale  College 

In  the  ensuing  summer  he  removed  to  St.  Albans,  Ver- 
mont, where  he  practiced  law  until  about  1803.  He  then 
went  to  Fairfield,  a  few  miles  to  the  eastwards,  and  thence 
to  Swanton,  also  in  the  same  county.  From  Swanton  he 
removed  to  North  Hero,  on  North  Island,  in  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  and  in  1807  he  was  State's  Attorney  for  the  County 
of  Grand  Isle. 

He  died  at  North  Hero,  in  the  spring  of  1812,  at  the 
age  of  41. 

His  children  were  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  all  of  whom 
grew  to  maturity. 

He  was  a  fine-looking  man,  and  a  pleasant  speaker ;  but 
unfortunately  (after  the  manner  of  the  time)  very  con- 
vivial in  his  habits. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Geo.    F.    Houghton,    MS.    Letter,       56.     Sweet,  Averys  of  Groton,  60. 
Dec.  31,   1866.       Morgan  Genealogy* 


WILLIAM  NASH,  the  sixth  child  and  fifth  son  of  John 
and  Martha  (Graves)  Nash,  of  Williamsburg,  Massachu- 
setts, and  grandson  of  Thomas  and  Martha  (Smith)  Nash, 
of  Hatfield,  Massachusetts,  was  born  on  August  5,  1768. 
He  had  much  ill  health  in  early  life,  but  finally  grew 
stronger  and  was  prepared  for  College  in  Northampton. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  College  Church  on  profession  of 
his  faith  in  August  of  his  Sophomore  year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  under  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Joseph  Lathrop  of  West  Springfield,  Massachusetts. 
Having  preached  in  a  number  of  other  towns  he  received 
in  March,  1797,  a  call  from  the  Congregational  Church 
and  Society  lately  formed  in  West  Boylston,  Massachu- 
setts, to  settle  as  their  pastor,  with  a  stipulated  annual 
salary  of  £100.  He  accepted  this  call  in  June,  although 
aware  that  it  was  not  unanimous,  and  was  ordained  there 
on  October  n,  1797. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  723 

The  opposition  to  Mr.  Nash  came  from  a  Calvinistic 
minority,  who  distrusted  his  liberal  views.  The  feeling  of 
dissatisfaction  was  not  extinguished,  but  continued  to 
smoulder,  until  finally  in  1812  an  attempt  was  made  to  dis- 
miss the  pastor.  In  1814  his  health  became  seriously 
impaired,  so  that  he  was  unable  to  preach  or  discharge 
other  duties.  He  accordingly  asked  for  a  dismission, 
which  was  voted  by  a  council  on  November  14. 

From  this  time  he  devoted  himself  to  his  farm,  and 
only  preached  as  an  occasional  supply. 

He  died  in  West  Boylston  on  March  25,  1829,  in  his  6ist 
year. 

He  married,  on  June  14,  1803,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Captain  John  and  Elizabeth  (Gardner)  Doubleday,  of 
Boston.  Their  children  were  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. Mrs.  Nash  died  at  the  house  of  her  elder  daughter, 
in  Bolton,  Massachusetts,  on  September  9,  1849,  m  ner 
78th  year. 

Mr.  Nash  was  reputed  the  best  writer  of  his  time  in 
Worcester  County,  and  a  preacher  of  wonderful  force  and 
ability. 

AUTHORITIES. 

G.  Allen,  Reminiscences,  80-81.  ily,  68,  123.  Pres.  Stiles,  Literary 
Keyes,  Historical  Memorandum  of  Diary,  iii,  362,  562.  Worcester 
W.  Boylston,  31,  55-59.  Nash  Fam-  Magazine,  ii,  195-96. 


BENJAMIN  PARSONS,  the  youngest  of  ten  children  of 
Lieutenant  Benjamin  Parsons,  of  Northampton,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  grandson  of  Captain  Ebenezer  and  Mercy 
(Stebbins)  Parsons,  of  Northampton,  was  born  on  Febru- 
ary 20,  1769.  His  mother  was  Rebecca,  daughter  of 
Benjamin  and  Mary  (Strong)  Sheldon,  of  Northampton. 
The  Rev.  Levi  Parsons  (Middlebury  Coll.  1814)  was  a 
nephew. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation,  and  practiced  his  pro- 


724  Yale  College 

fession  at  first  in  his  native  county.  Later  he  removed  to 
Boston,  where  he  was  in  practice  until  about  1830. 

In  his  old  age  he  devoted  himself  to  missionary  labor  in 
the  Western  States,  in  behalf  of  the  Liberal  Churches. 

His  last  years  were  spent  with  a  son  in  New  York  City 
and  Brooklyn.  He  died  in  the  latter  city  on  April  15,  1857, 
in  his  SQth  year. 

He  published : 

Last  Words  of  an  Advocate  of  Pure  Evangelical  Religion.  New- 
York,  1856.  1 6°,  pp.  252.  [Y.  C. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Burt,  Cornet  Joseph  Parsons,  114. 


JOHN  DOUGLAS  PERKINS,,  the  second  son  of  Dr.  Elisha 
Perkins,  of  Plainfield,  Connecticut,  the  famous  inventor  of 
the  Metallic  Tractors,  and  grandson  of  Dr.  Joseph  Perkins 
(Yale  1727)'  was  born  on  February  3,  1769.  His  mother 
was  Sarah,  sister  of  Benjamin  Douglas  (Yale  1760).  His 
elder  brother  was  a  member  of  the  Yale  Class  of  1781,  but 
did  not  graduate ;  two  younger  brothers  were  graduated  in 
1794  and  1803,  respectively.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Col- 
lege Church  on  profession  of  faith  in  March  of  his  Senior 
year. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  the  New  London  Association  of  Ministers  on 
May  28,  1793.  He  preached  in  various  pulpits,  and  so 
assiduously  that  his  health  began  to  fail.  While  in  pre- 
carious health  he  was  invited  to  settle  in  the  new  Ohio 
Territory  (in  August,  1798),  but  he  thought  it  necessary 
at  that  time  to  relinquish  his  profession.  Accordingly,  he 
took  up  the  study  of  medicine  with  his  father  and  was 
licensed  to  practice  by  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society  on 
December  9,  1799. 

In  1800  he  removed  to  Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  725 

and  two  years  later  settled  in  Coatesville,  in  the  adjoining 
Chester  County. 

He  married,  on  November  4,  1802,  Rebecca  Hughes,  of 
Coatesville. 

A  few  years  later,  having  regained  his  health,  he 
returned  to  Connecticut,  and  secured  ordination  from  the 
New  London  County  Association  on  July  I,  1807.  In 
April,  1808,  he  transferred  his  membership  from  the  Con- 
gregational to  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  became  a 
member  of  the  Newcastle  Presbytery,  Chester  County, 
Pennsylvania,  with  his  residence  in  Coatesville. 

Here  he  labored  as  a  missionary,  under  the  direction  of 
his  Presbytery,  devoting  himself  untiringly  to  his  work, 
until  failing  health  warned  him  to  desist. 

He  died  in  Coatesville  on  March  5,  1847,  aged  78  years. 
His  wife  died  on  February  8,  1836. 

Their  children  were  three  daughters  and  four  sons,  all 
of  whom  married  and  left  children. 

Two  of  the  sons  were  graduated  from  the  Medical 
Department  of  the  University  of  Maryland,  in  1833  and 
1838,  respectively. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Douglas  Genealogy,  115-116.     Life       kins  Family,  pt.  3,  31,  58-59.     Pres. 
of   Manasseh   Cutler,   ii,   5-9.       Per-       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  413. 


PETER  BUELL  PORTER  was  born  in  Salisbury,  Connecti- 
cut, on  August  14,  1773,  being  the  youngest  son  of  Colonel 
Joshua  Porter  (Yale  1754).  He  was  named  for  his 
maternal  grandfather. 

He  studied  law  after  graduation  with  Judge  Reeve  in 
Litchfield,  and  removed  to  Western  New  York  in  1793, 
beginning  practice  in  Canandaigua  in  1795.  He  was 
County  Clerk  of  Ontario  County  from  1797  to  1804;  and 
a  member  of  the  State  Assembly  in  1802. 
About  1805  ne  removed  to  Black  Rock,  now  part  of  Buf- 


726  Yale  College 

falo  and  soon  became  the  most  popular  and  powerful 
political  leader  in  that  part  of  the  State. 

Though  originally  a  Federalist,  he  was  elected  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  1808,  as  a  Democrat. 
As  a  close  friend  of  Henry  Clay  he  participated  in  his 
advocacy  of  internal  improvements. 

As  Chairman  of  the  important  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations  he  prepared  and  introduced  in  November,  1811, 
the  celebrated  Report  that  recommended  war  with  Great 
Britain.  He  had  already  held  office  in  the  State  Militia 
as  Colonel,  and  on  the  opening  of  hostilities  he  resigned  his 
seat  in  Congress,  and  became  an  active  participant  in  the 
contest. 

He  recruited  a  brigade  of  volunteer  troops  from  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  York,  and  his  operations  were  chiefly  in 
Western  New  York  and  on  the  Canada  side  of  Niagara 
Falls.  When  Black  Rock  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British 
in  November,  1812,  General  Porter's  house  became  the 
headquarters  of  the  enemy,  and  he  rallied  a  force  and 
expelled  them.  He  was  engaged  in  General  Alexander 
Smyth's  attempt  to  invade  Canada  a  few  days  later,  and  his 
remarks  on  the  affair  led  to  a  duel  with  Smyth. 

His  appointment  by  Governor  Tompkins  as  Brigadier 
General  of  New  York  Volunteers  dated  from  July,  1813. 

He  exhibited  great  personal  gallantry  at  the  battle  of 
Chippewa,  and  led  the  volunteers  in  the  successful  engage- 
ment at  Lundy's  Lane,  in  July,  1814. 

At  the  siege  of  Fort  Erie  he  planned  and  led  a  famous 
sortie  from  the  Fort,  which  entirely  routed  the  besieging 
army.  In  this  encounter  he  was  slightly  wounded.  Subse- 
quently, in  February,  1815,  he  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of 
Major  General. 

For  his  military  services  he  received  a  gold  medal 
from  Congress  by  resolution  dated  November  3,  1814, 
and  a  sword  from  the  New  York  Legislature.  At  the 
termination  of  the  war,  in  1815,  President  Madison  in 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  727 

reorganizing  the  army  offered  him  the  appointment  of 
Commander-in-chief,  which  he  declined. 

In  1815  he  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  State  of  New 
York  for  one  year.  He  was  also  returned  to  Congress  in 
December,  1815,  and  served  until  his  resignation  in  1816. 

He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  ardent  advocates 
of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  one  of  the  commissioners  to  explore 
the  route  in  April,  181 1.  In  1816  he  was  appointed  a  com- 
missioner for  determining  the  Northwestern  boundary 
line,  and  performed  valuable  service  in  that  connection. 

He  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  nomination  of 
Governor  of  New  York  in  1817,  but  DeWitt  Clinton  was 
selected. 

In  September,  1818,  he  married  Letitia  Preston,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Hon.  John  Breckenridge,  United  States  Senator 
from  Kentucky,  and  Mary  Hopkins  (Cabell)  Brecken- 
ridge. 

He  served  as  Regent  of  the  University  of  the  State  of 
New  York  from  1824  until  his  resignation  in  1830. 

In  May,  1828,  he  was  made  Secretary  of  War  by  Presi- 
dent Adams,  and  continued  in  office  until  March,  1829. 

In  1840  he  was  chosen  as  a  Presidential  Elector. 

He  died  at  his  residence  at  Niagara  Falls,  on  March  20, 
1844,  in  his  7  ist  year. 

His  children  were  one  daughter,  who  never  married,  and 
one  son  (Harvard  1845),  wno  was  killed  in  the  Civil  War. 
A  grandson  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1874. 

His  portrait  is  reproduced  in  several  publications,  as  in 
volume  one  of  the  Military  Papers  of  Governor  Tompkins. 

He  published : 

i.  Speech  on  Internal  Improvements;  delivered  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  on  the  eighth  February,  1810.  8°,  pp.  18. 

[B.  Ath.    B.  Publ.    Harv.    M.  H.  S. 

This  vigorous  and  epoch-making  plea  for  a  policy  of  aid  in  the 
construction  of  waterways  like  the  projected  Erie  canal  is  reprinted 
in  Hosack's  Memoir  of  DeWitt  Clinton,  1829,  pp.  359-74. 


728  Yale  College 

2.  Speech  on  the  Bill  for  renewing  the  Charter  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States. — In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Jan.  18,  1811. 
8°,  pp.  15.  [A.  A.  S. 

A  Speech  against  the  Bill. 

Many  of  his  letters  and  papers  are  printed  in  the  volumes  on  the 
Documentary  History  of  the  Campaign  on  the  Niagara  Frontier  in 
1812-14,  edited  for  the  Lundy's  Lane  Historical  Society.  They  illus- 
trate in  a  signal  manner  his  important  military  services. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Andrews  and  Wiggins,  Descend-  Field-Book  of  the  War  of  1812,  426- 
ants  of  Col.  Joshua  Porter,  9,  20-22.  27,  430-32,  627,  807-08,  838,  842. 
Appletons'  Cyclopaedia  of  Amer.  Gov.  Tompkins,  Military  Papers, 
Biogr.,  v,  78.  Lossing,  Pictorial  passim. 


DANIEL  ROSE,  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Naomi  Rose,  was 
born  in  (North)  Branford,  Connecticut,  January  31,  1772. 

His  earlier  history  after  leaving  College  is  unknown,  but 
he  probably  settled  in  Maine  (perhaps  in  New  Milford, 
now  Alna). 

He  was  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  in  the  war 
of  1812  as  an  engineer ;  and  was  next  a  physician  in  Town- 
shend,  now  Boothbay,  Maine.  He  became  a  leading  man 
in  Boothbay,  a  magistrate,  surveyor,  etc.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Convention  at  Portland  in  October,  1819,  which 
framed  the  constitution  by  which  the  District  of  Maine 
became  a  State;  and  in  1821-22  was  President  of  the  State 
Senate,  and  as  such  for  a  few  days  Acting  Governor. 

He  was  also  in  December,  1822,  appointed  one  of  the 
Commissioners  to  effect  an  equitable  division  of  the  public 
lands  belonging  to  Massachusetts  and  Maine. 

In  July,  1823,  he  removed  to  Thomaston,  having 
accepted  an  appointment  as  the  first  warden  of  the  new 
State  Prison. 

In  1828  he  was  appointed  Land  Agent,  after  a  bitter 
attack  on  the  management  of  his  predecessor  in  office.  An 
anonymous  pamphlet  published  during  this  controversy  ( in 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  729 

January,  1828)  suggested  his  name  for  the  office,  describ- 
ing him  as  "a  practical  surveyor ;  a  man  capable  of  endur- 
ing great  fatigue ;  of  inexhaustible  industry  and  one  who 
would  never  be  the  tool  of  any  man.  As  one  of  the  Land 
Commissioners  he  has  had  great  experience." 

He  died  in  Thomaston  on  October  25,  1833,  in  his  62d 
year. 

He  first  married,  on  October  7,  1793,  Anna  Russell,  of 
North  Branford.  He  next  married  about  1806,  Olive 
Peasley,  who  died  on  September  n,  1844,  aged  56  years. 
Their  children  were  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of 
whom  lived  to  maturity.  The  second  son  was  graduated 
in  medicine  from  Bowdoin  College  in  1837. 

He  published  official  Reports  of  his  work  as  Land  Agent. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  v,       the   two   last    Reports    of    the    Land 
18.     Eaton,    Hist,    of    Thomaston,    i,       Agent. 
335-36,  350;    ii,  383-84.     Remarks  on 


ELIPHALET  ST.  JOHN,  a  son  of  Caleb  and  Mary  (Seeley) 
St.  John,  of  Canaan  Parish,  now  the  town  of  New  Canaan, 
Connecticut,  was  born  on  April  22,  1770. 

He  was  prepared  for  College  by  his  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Justus  Mitchell  (Yale  1776). 

He  spent  his  entire  life  in  his  native  town,  where  he  lived 
upon  his  farm,  and  also  kept  a  very  successful  boarding- 
school. 

He  was  elected  a  deacon  in  the  Congregational  Church 
in  the  village  in  September,  1828,  and  held  that  office  until 
his  death. 

He  died  in  New  Canaan,  on  July  27,  1845,  m  ms  76th 
year. 

He  was  married  at  Stamford,  Connecticut,  on  October 
2,  1793,  to  Sarah  Knapp. 


73°  Yale  College 

AUTHORITIES. 

Mrs.  O.  St.  John  Alexander,  MS.       Church  Celebration,  1888,  35.    S.  St. 
Letter,  Dec.  21,  1906.     New  Canaan       John,  Hist.  Address,  34. 


DUDLEY  SALTON STALL,,  the  third  child  of  Commodore 
Dudley  Saltonstall,  of  New  London,  Connecticut,  and 
grandson  of  Colonel  Gurdon  Saltonstall  (Yale  1725),  was 
born  in  1770.  His  mother  was  Frances,  daughter  of  Dr. 
Joshua  Babcock  (Yale  1724),  of  Westerly,  Rhode  Island. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  Judge  Reeve,  in 
Litchfield,  Connecticut,  and  emigrated  to  Western  New 
York,  where  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  of  Ontario  County  in  1795.  He  settled  in 
Canandaigua,  and  held  the  office  of  County  Surrogate 
from  January,  1798,  to  February,  1809.  He  also  held  the 
rank  of  General  in  the  militia. 

He  began  practice  under  favorable  auspices,  but  failing 
to  meet  the  success  which  he  had  desired,  he  lost  confidence 
in  himself  and  abandoned  his  profession. 

He  engaged  in  other  pursuits  with  but  little  better  suc- 
cess, and  early  in  1809  emigrated  to  Maryland,  and  thence 
soon  after  to  Nixonton,  a  suburb  of  Elizabeth  City,  North 
Carolina,  where  he  died  on  April  26,  1824,  aged  54  years. 

He  married  a  daughter  of  General  Israel  Chapin,  of 
Canandaigua. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bond,  Hist,  of  Watertown,  Mass.,  alogy,  36,  39.  Turner,  Hist,  of 
926.  T.  M.  Howell,  MS.  Letter,  Phelps  and  Gorham's  Purchase,  181. 
March  24,  1892.  Saltonstall  Gene- 


BARZILLAI  SLOSSON  was  born  in  Kent,  Connecticut,  on 
December  27,  1769,  the  eldest  of  ten  children  of  Nathan 
Slosson,  of  Kent,  and  grandson  of  Nathaniel  and  Margaret 
(Belden)  Slosson.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Jehiel  and  Elizabeth  (Sacket)  Hubbell,  of  Stratfield, 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  731 

now  Bridgeport.  He  entered  College  in  the  Senior  year, 
and  such  were  his  attainments  that  he  won  the  Berkeley 
Scholarship  before  graduation. 

After  taking  his  degree  he  taught  for  a  short  time  in  the 
Academy  at  Sharon,  Connecticut,  and  at  the  same  time 
studied  law  with  the  Hon.  John  Cotton  Smith.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  April,  1794,  and  settled  in  his  native 
town. 

He  had  a  fair  business  as  a  lawyer,  and  was  remarkably 
clear  and  logical  in  his  deductions,  and  accurate  in  practice ; 
but  his  greatest  interest  was  in  the  study  of.  the  classics. 
He  represented  Kent  in  the  State  Legislature  at  fifteen 
sessions  between  1797  and  1812.  In  the  last  two  sessions 
(May  and  October,  1812)  he  was  one  of  the  Clerks  of  the 
House, — a  position  which  was  regarded  as  a  sure  stepping 
stone  to  future  advancement.  He  had  then  been  out  of 
health  for  a  considerable  time,  but  was  able  to  continue'  his 
attention  to  business  until  about  the  middle  of  December, 
1812.  After  that  he  declined  more  rapidly,  and  died  in 
Kent  on  January  20,  1813,  having  just  entered  on  his  44th 
year. 

He  married  in  Kent,  on  January  i,  1795,  Mary,  daughter 
of  Nathaniel  and  Mary  (Cass)  Hatch,  of  Warren,  Con- 
necticut. She  died  in  Kent,  on  February  13,  1831,  aged  58 
years.  Their  children  were  two  sons,  the  younger  of 
whom  was  educated  by  his  uncle  and  graduated  at  Union 
College  in  1817. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Boardman,  Sketches  of  the  Litch-       Biogr.  Record,  iii,  115,  169-70.    Pres. 
field  Bar,  13-17.     N.  Y.  Geneal.  and       Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii,  417. 


DANIEL  SMITH,  son  of  Peter  and  Mary  Smith,  of  New 
Canaan,  Connecticut,  was  born  on  August  9,  1767. 

After  graduation  he  studied  theology  with  the  Rev. 
Cotton  Mather  Smith  (Yale  1751),  of  Sharon,  Connecti- 


73 2  Yale  College 

cut,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Litchfield  North 
Association  of  Ministers  on  October  2,  1792. 

Early  in  January,  1793,  he  began  preaching  in  Stamford, 
Connecticut,  and  in  March,  1793,  he  was  called  unani- 
mously to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  there,  with  a  salary  of  £150.  He  accepted  the  call, 
and  was  ordained  and  installed  on  June  13,  1793. 

In  his  long  ministry  he  endeared  himself  peculiarly  to 
his  people  by  his  unusual  good  sense  and  wisdom,  his 
urbanity  and  courtesy,  and  his  happy  union  of  prudence 
with  zeal. 

In  1839,  after  a  ministry  of  forty-seven  years,  he  asked 
to  be  relieved  from  a  portion  of  his  cares,  in  consideration 
of  his  growing  infirmities ;  but  his  hold  upon  his  people  was 
such  that  they  were  unwilling  to  release  him,  and  he  con- 
tinued in  the  discharge  of  his  full  duties  until  his  death, 
in  Stamford,  on  June  n,  1846,  in  his  79th  year. 

In  addition  to  his  labors  as  preacher  and  pastor,  Mr. 
Smith  for  many  years  conducted  a  private  school  in  his  own 
house.  He  was  a  Fellow  of  Yale  College  from  September, 
1818,  and  had  thus  come  to  be  the  senior  Fellow  at  the 
time  of  his  death. 

He  married,  on  July  9,  1793,  Mary,  youngest  daughter 
of  his  theological  instructor,  the  Rev.  Cotton  M.  Smith,  by 
whom  he  had  one  daughter  and  one  son  (who  was  gradu- 
ated at  Yale  in  1816). 

Mrs.  Smith  died  early  and  he  next  married  on  July  14, 
1801,  Catharine,  only  child  of  David  and  Sarah  (Holly, 
Maltby)  Webb,  of  Stamford.  She  was  born  on  August 
13,  1771.  Their  children  were  four  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter. The  two  younger  sons  were  graduated  at  Yale  in 

1835- 


AUTHORITIES. 

Huntington,  Hist,  of  Stamford,  Celebration,  1883,  32-33.  Sprague, 
303-09,  410-11;  Stamford  Registra-  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Pulpit,  i,  502. 
tion,  105,  122.  New  Canaan  Church  Tuttle  Family,  340. 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/pi  733 

JOSIAH  STEBBINS,  the  youngest  son  of  Abner  and 
Martha  (Smith)  Stebbins,  of  Brimfield,  Massachusetts, 
and  grandson  of  Lieutenant  Thomas  and  Mary  (Munn) 
Stebbins,  of  Longmeadow,  was  born  on  November  19, 
1766. 

He  pursued  his  studies  preparatory  for  College  with  his 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Nehemiah  Williams  (Yale  1769). 

He  studied  law  in  New  Haven  after  graduation  with 
the  Hon.  Elizur  Goodrich  (Yale  1779) ;  and  in  February, 
1794,  he  was  elected  to  a  College  tutorship.  Tutor  Chapin 
resigned  his  office  a  month  later,  and  Mr.  Stebbins  suc- 
ceeded to  the  vacancy. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  practice  of  law  in  the  summer  of 
1796,  and  at  the  same  time  retired  from  his  situation  as 
tutor. 

On  October  29,  1797,  he  married  Laura  Allen,  of  New 
Haven,  and  a  few  days  later  set  forth  to  take  up  the 
burden  of  life  in  the  wilderness  of  Maine. 

He  established  himself  in  New  Milford,  now  Alna,  then 
containing  about  six  hundred  inhabitants,  and  not  destined 
to  become  a  place  of  any  importance.  Here  he  pursued  his 
professional  duties  with  great  assiduity  and  ability,  acquir- 
ing an  extensive  practice  and  reputation.  He  did  not, 
however,  excel  as  an  advocate,  as  his  manner  was  awk- 
ward, his  style  involved,  and  his  arguments  apt  to  be 
desultory.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  affability,  his 
inflexible  integrity,  and  the  purity  of  his  moral  character. 

In  1813  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,  and  held  this  office  until  the  separation  of 
Maine  from  Massachusetts  in  1820. 

In  1816  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Council  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  annually  re-elected 
until  1820.  In  1816  he  was  also  appointed  a  Presidential 
Elector. 

In  the  same  year  he  was  prominent  as  a  member  of  the 
Convention  called  to  consider  the  separation  of  Maine 


734  Yale  College 

from  Massachusetts,  by  which  nothing  was  accomplished. 
Judge  Stebbins  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  minority, 
which  opposed  the  attempt  to  carry  the  proposition  by 
artifice,  and  is  supposed  to  have  drawn  up  the  protest 
which  he  presented  against  this  action. 

After  the  separation  was  accomplished,  Judge  Stebbins's 
seat  upon  the  bench  was  given,  in  1821,  to  a  friend  of  the 
separation  (which  he  was  not),  and  he  returned  to  the 
practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  continued  to  the  close 
of  life.  In  1825  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  from 
Lincoln  County,  and  was  re-elected  the  two  subsequent 
years.  In  this  situation  his  learning  and  experience  were 
of  special  value,  and  several  elaborate  reports  were  due  to 
his  hand. 

He  was  one  of  the  Overseers  of  Bowdoin  College  from 
1800  to  1816,  and  a  Trustee  from  1816  to  the  time  of  his 
death. 

He  died  in  Alna  on  March  i,  1829,  in  his  63d  year. 
His  widow  survived  him  a  few  years. 

Their  only  daughter  never  married ;  an  only  son  died  in 
infancy. 

AUTHORITIES. 

Bailey,  Early  Conn.  Marriages,  i,       Society's  Collections,  ix,   133.    Pres. 
24.     Greenlee,  Stebbins  Genealogy,  i,       Stiles,   Literary  Diary,   iii,   515,   518, 
183,  252-55.    Hyde,   Hist,   of   Brim-       560.     Willis,   Law   and   Lawyers   of 
field,    457.       Maine    Hist.    Society's       Maine,  236-42,  611. 
Collections,   vi,   56-57.     Mass.    Hist. 


ELIJAH  WATERMAN,  son  of  Nehemiah  Waterman, 
Junior,  of  Bozrah,  then  a  parish  in  Norwich,  Connecticut, 
and  of  his  wife,  Susanna  Isham,  was  born  in  Bozrah  on 
November  28,  1769.  He  spent  his  early  years  in  assisting 
his  father  on  the  farm,  but  exhibited,  even  in  childhood, 
great  precocity. 

His  preparation  for  College  was  completed  under  Stan- 
ley Griswold  (Yale  1786)  in  Norwich.  He  came  under 


Biographical  Sketches,  //pi  735 

discipline  in  December  of  his  Senior  year,  for  disobedience 
to  the  President's  orders  requiring  him  to  room  in  Col- 
lege, but  was  restored  to -his  rank  in  the  Class  three 
months  later. 

In  May  before  graduation  he  took  charge  of  a  select 
school  in  Wethersfield,  Connecticut ;  and  in  October  after 
receiving  his  degree,  he  became  the  head  of  a  similar  school 
at  Hartford,  in  which  he  continued  until  March,  1792. 

It  had  been  his  intention,  when  he  left  College,  to  pursue 
the  study  of  law;  but  during  his  residence  in  Wethers- 
field  his  mind  received  a  religious  direction,  which  deter- 
mined him  to  enter  the  ministry.  Accordingly,  in  June, 
1792,  he  began  the  study  of  theology  under  the  direction  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight,  at  Greenfield  Hill.  He 
subsequently  continued  his  studies  under  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Jonathan  Edwards  of  New  Haven,  being  at  the  same  time 
a  private  tutor  in  the  family  of  Judge  Charles  Chauncey. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  New  London  Associa- 
tion of  Ministers  in  May,  1793,  and  continued  his  studies 
until  1794. 

In  April  of  that  year  he  went  to  preach  as  a  candidate 
to  the  First  Church  and  Society  of  Windham,  Connecti- 
cut ;  and  on  June  23  a  unanimous  call  was  extended  to  him, 
offering  him  an  annual  salary  of  £145. 

He  was  ordained  and  installed  in  Windham  on  October 
i,  1794,  and  the  sermon  preached  on  that  occasion  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  James  Dana,  of  New  Haven,  was  afterwards 
published. 

On  November  18,  1795,  he  married  Lucy,  eldest  child  of 
Shubael  Abbe  (Yale  1764),  of  Windham. 

He  found  his  church  cold,  backward,  and  almost  without 
influence  in  the  community;  while  irreligion  was  rampant 
and  aggressive  throughout  the  parish.  He  devoted  himself 
to  his  work  with  great  earnestness,  and  soon  aroused  a 
new  religious  interest  in  the  community.  But  his  energy 
and  zeal  in  opposing  vice  made  many  enemies,  and  after 


736  Yale  College 

a  few  years  so  many  of  his  congregation  joined 
other  denominations  that  his  support  became  precarious. 
Finally,  the  sudden  death  of  his  wife's  father,  in  April, 
1804,  removed  one  of  the  strongest  pillars  of  the  Society, 
and  Mr.  Waterman  yielded  to  the  advice  of  friends  and 
sought  a  dismission,  which  was  granted  on  February  12, 
1805. 

He  was  then  employed  for  some  time  to  supply  the 
vacant  pulpit  in  New  Milford,  Connecticut;  and  on  Janu- 
ary i,  1806,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  of  forty-seven  members  in  Stratfield,  now  Bridge- 
port, Connecticut.  The  installation  sermon  was  preached 
by  his  friend  and  former  neighbor,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Moses  C. 
Welch  (Yale  1772),  of  Mansfield,  and  was  subsequently 
published. 

He  continued  to  minister  to  the  congregation  at  Bridge- 
port with  great  acceptance  till  the  close  of  his  life,  and 
about  three  hundred  and  sixty  members  were  added  to  the 
church  during  this  period. 

His  wife  died  on  March  17,  1822,  in  her  44th  year;  and 
he  was  married,  on  December  24,  1823,  to  Lucy,  second 
daughter  of  George  and  Alethea  (Rowland)  Wolcott,  of 
Windsor,  Connecticut,  and  widow7  of  Captain  Henry  Tal- 
cott,  of  Windsor.  She  was  born  on  January  31,  1780,  and 
survived  Mr.  Waterman  many  years. 

He  died  of  an  inflammatory  fever,  while  on  a  visit  at 
Springfield  (where  his  wife  resided  at  the  time  of  their 
marriage),  on  October  n,  1825,  aged  nearly  56  years. 

By  his  first  marriage  he  had  five  daughters  and  two 
sons,  and  by  his  second  marriage  one  daughter.  The 
eldest  son  was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1822,  and  entered  the 
ministry. 

Mr.  Waterman  was  a  preacher  of  considerable  power, 
and  of  fervent  piety.  His  theology  was  more  strictly  Cal- 
vinistic  than  that  of  most  of  the  New  England  clergy  of 
his  day. 


Biographical  Sketches,  1791  737 

He  was  for  several  years  during  his  ministry  in  Bridge- 
port a  successful  teacher,  both  of  students  in  theology 
and  younger  pupils.  His  interest  in  local  history  was 
peculiarly  active  and  intelligent 

He  published : 

1.  An  Oration,  delivered  before  the  Society  of  Cincinnati,  Hart- 
ford, July  4,  1794.    Hartford,  1794.    8°,  pp.  20. 

[A.C.A.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

2.  A  Century  Sermon  [from  Matt,  xvi,  18],  preached  before  the 
First  Church  in  Windham,  December  10,  A.  D.  1800.     In  Com- 
memoration of  its  Institution,  December  10,  A.  D.  1700.    Containing 
Historical  Facts  relative  to  its  settlement  and  progress.    Windham, 
1801.    8°,  pp.  43. 

[A.  C.  A.    Andover  Theol.  Sem.    B.  Publ.    C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

A  valuable  historical  record.  At  the  same  time  the  author  was 
pursuing  the  collection  and  preparation  of  materials  for  the  history 
of  Windham  County,  which  he  expected  to  publish,  but  he  was  not 
able  to  carry  out  his  intention. 

3.  A  Sermon  [from  Luke  xi,  35],  preached  at  Windham,  Novem- 
ber 29th,  1803,  being  the  day  of  the  Execution  of  Caleb  Adams,  for 
the  Murder  of  Oliver  Woodworth  .  . .     Windham,  1803.    8°,  pp.  32. 

[Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 

The  sermon  occupies  pages  1-18,  and  the  Address  at  the  Place  of 
Execution,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Moses  C.  Welch,  follows. 

4.  A  Discourse  [from  Job  vii,  i],  at  the  Funeral  of  Nehemiah 
Strong,  Esq.,  Late  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philos- 
ophy, at  Yale-College,  August  i6th,  A.  D.  1807.    Bridgeport,  1807. 
8°,  pp.  21.  [A.  C.  A.    C.  H.  S.    Harv. 

5.  The  Noble  Convert. — A  Sermon   [from  2  Kings,  v,   18-19], 
preached  at  Bridgeport,  May  28,  1809,  at  the  request  of  the  Hon. 
Pierpont  Edwards,  Esq.    Bridgeport,  1809.    8°,  pp.  20. 

[A.  C.  A.    B.  Ath.    Brit.  Mus.    C.  H.  S.    Y.  C. 

The  convert  who  is  the  subject  of  the  sermon  is  Naaman. 

6.  A  Discourse  [from  Gal.  vi,  14-15]  delivered  at  the  funeral  of 
Capt.  Aaron  Hawley,  January  3Oth,  A.  D.  1810.    Bridgeport,  1810. 
8°,  pp.  19.  [Brit.  Mus.    Y.  C. 

47 


738  Yale  College 

7.  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Calvin:    together 
with  a  Selection  of  Letters,  written  by  him,  and  other  distinguished 
Reformers :   also,  Notes,  and  Biographical  Sketches  of  some  of  his 
cotemporaries.    Boston  (Hartford),  1813.    8°,  pp.  iv,  412,  xii,  +  pi. 

[A.  C.  A.    Andover  Theol.  Sem.    Brit.  Mus.      Harv.     Y.  C. 

8.  The  Catechism  of  the  Church  of  Geneva,  by  the  Rev.  John 
Calvin. — Translated  from  the  Latin. — With  an  Appendix,  in  a  let- 
ter addressed  to  William  S.  Johnson,  L.L.D.   showing  that  "the 
Catechism  commonly  called  Dr.  Alexander  Nowell's"  .  .  is  in  sub- 
stance the  Catechism  of  Calvin  enlarged.     Hartford,   1815.     12°. 
pp.  1 60.  [Harv.    Y.  C. 

This  publication  grew  out  of  a  suggestion  of  Dr.  Johnson's,  on 
reading  the  author's.  Memoirs  of  Calvin. 

9.  A  Sermon  [from  Ez.  ii,  5],  preached  at  the  funeral  of  the  Rev. 
David  Ely,  D.D.  who  died  at  Huntington,  Feb.  i6th,  1816  .  .     New- 
York,  1816.    8°,  pp:  26.  [Brown  Univ.    Y.  C. 

He  is  also  said  to  have  contributed  largely  both  in  prose 
and  poetry,  to  the  periodicals  of  his  day,  but  the  only 
articles  which  I  have  traced  are  the  following: 

10.  Extract  from  a  Sermon  delivered  at  Hartford,  on  the  Evening 
of  May  I2th,  1803,  at  the  request  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Missionary 
Society  of  Connecticut. — In  the  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine, 
July,  1803,  volume  4,  pp.  27-31. 

11.  Biographical    Sketch  of  the  Rev.   Thomas   Clap,    formerly 
President  of  Yale  College. — In  the  Christian  Spectator,  December, 
1819,  volume  i,  pp.  605-10. 

President  Clap  was  one  of  Mr.  Waterman's  predecessors  in  the 
pastorate  of  the  church  in  Windham. 

He  delivered  the  annual  Oration  before  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society  of  Yale  in  1809,  but  it  was  not  published. 


AUTHORITIES. 

Caulkins,  Hist,  of  Norwich,  2d  ed.,  of     the    Amer.     Pulpit,     ii,     341-44. 

207-08.    Lamed,  Hist,  of  Windham  Pres.  Ezra  Stiles,  Literary  Diary,  iii, 

County,   ii.     Orcutt,  Hist,   of   Strat-  411,    413.      H.    R.    Stiles,    Hist,    of 

ford,   i,   633-35  J    ",   776,   830,    1324.  Windsor,  2d  ed.,  ii,  815.    Tyler,  Hist. 

Palmer,     Hist,     of     ist     Church     in  Discourse  at  Windham,  19-22.     Wol- 

Bridgeport,    12-14;     Bridgeport,    Bi-  cott  Memorial,  210. 
centennial,   38-41.      Sprague,   Annals 


Biographical  Sketches,  i/pi  739 

JOHN  WHITTELSEY,  the  youngest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Chaimcey  Whittelsey  (Yale  1738),  of  New  Haven,  was 
born  on  September  8,  1770.  His  father's  death  occurred 
just  before  he  entered  College. 

On  June  I,  1799,  he  married  Ann  Kerwood,  and  about 
the  same  time  removed  to  New  York  City,  where  he  con- 
ducted a  grocery  business.  He  was  at  one  time  employed 
in  the  New  York  Custom  House. 

About  1836  he  removed  to  Iowa,  but  about  1844  returned 
to  New  Haven,  where  the  rest  of  his  life  was  spent. 

He  died  in  New  Haven  on  May  12,  1849,  m  ms  79tn 
year.  His  widow  died  here  on  January  23,  1861,  in  her 
9Oth  year. 

Their  children  were  four  daughters  and  five  sons,  of 
whom  two  daughters  and  a  son  died  in  infancy. 


AUTHORITIES. 
Whittelsey  Genealogy,  56,  87. 


740  Yale  College 


Annals,   1791-92 


Calvin  Chapin,  of  the  Class  of  1788,  succeeded  Ebenezer 
Fitch,  of  the  Class  of  1777,  in  the  tutorship  at  the  opening 
of  this  College  year. 

At  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut 
in  October,  a  very  able  committee  was  appointed,  to  confer 
with  the  Corporation  on  the  state  of  the  College,  and  to 
report  to  the  Legislature  at  their  next  session.  A  confer- 
ence was  accordingly  held,  in  January;  and  the  report 
rendered  to  the  Assembly  in  May  was  highly  favorable. 

The  Hon.  James  Hillhouse,  the  treasurer,  suggested  at 
the  same  time  a  plan  for  relieving  the  pecuniary  needs  of 
the  College,  which  proved  acceptable,  and  was  in  substance 
as  follows : 

Certain  arrears  of  taxes  (amounting  to  upwards  of 
$40,000)  were  granted  to  the  College;  and  in  return  for 
this  aid  the  Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor,  and  six  senior 
members  of  the  Upper  House  for  the  time  being,  were  to 
become  ex-officio  members  of  the  Corporation.  This  met 
the  outside  demand  for  State  oversight  of  the  College,  and 
was  at  the  same  time  acceptable  to  the  President  and  the 
clerical  Fellows ;  and  the  new  arrangement  went  into  effect 
by  the  ratification  of  the  old  Corporation  on  June  28. 

The  change  marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  era,  and  thus 
makes  a  fitting  point  for  the  termination  of  the  present 
volume. 


APPENDIX 


LENGTH  OF  LIFE  OF  THE  YALE  GRADUATES  OF  THE  YEARS  1778-91, 
BY  JOHN  M.  GAINES 

The  writer  has  been  asked  to  summarize  the  mortality  data 
embodied  in  this  volume  of  Annals,  continuing  the  similar  studies 
made  in  previous  volumes.  The  plan  employed  is  the  same  as 
used  heretofore. 

Certain  special  cases  have  had  to  be  dealt  with  in  preparing 
the  tables. 


One  man,  John  P.  Seward,  1784,  died  13  days  before  commence- 
ment date.  His  name  is  included  in  class  records,  but  omitted  from 
this  study  altogether. 

Of  two  men,  Samuel  Welles,  1783,  and  Jael  Edson,  1784,  nothing 
is  known.  They  presumably  died  early,  or  migrated,  and  were  lost 
to  view.  As  in  previous  studies,  these  names  are  omitted. 

Of  four  others  the  birth-dates  are  given,  but  the  year  of  death 
is  unknown.  They  probably  died  early,  or  migrated,  as  above 
suggested. 

Aaron  Buell,  1778 

Daniel  Chapman,         1789 
Joseph    Eliot,  1784 

Samuel  D.  Searle,       1781 

They  are,  however,  assumed  in  this  study  to  have  died  at  the  age 
of  25. 

Nine  more  men  are  found,  of  whose  deaths  we  are  not  told.  They 
were  known  to  be  living  at  various  ages  as  follows : 

One — Lee  Hall,  1789,  "died  young."  Two  more  were  known 
to  be  living  at  21, — probably  dying  early.  The  others  are  known 
to  have  lived  (respectively)  to  24,  35,  37,  "probably"  56,  65  and  82. 

In  order  to  be  conservative  in  estimating  the  mortality  experi- 
ence, it  will  be  assumed  that  each  of  the  nine  died  in  the  year  after 
the  last  report  of  him.  This  probably  will  exaggerate  the  death 
rate  of  the  group — at  young  ages- 

Thus  only  three  men  graduating  in  this  period  are  omitted — 
one  who  was  only  conventionally  a  member  of  the  group, — and 
two  of  whom  nothing  is  known. 

The  other  doubtful  cases  are  included  in  a  most  conservative 
manner,  as  outlined  above. 


742 


Yale  College 


TABLE    SHOWING   ACTUAL   AND    TABULAR    MORTALITIES 


Age. 

No.  at 
risk. 

No.  dying 
in  year. 

Expected 
Deaths  by 
Am.  Table. 

Age. 

No.  at 
risk. 

Mo.  dying 
in  year. 

Expected 
Deaths  by 
Am.  Table. 

15 

I 



.01 

60 

324 

5 

8.65 

16 

8 

— 

.06 

61 

319 

13 

9.20 

17 

28 

— 

.21 

62 

306 

9 

9-57 

18 

75 

— 

.58 

63 

297 

10 

10.07 

IQ 

142 

I 

1.  10 

64 

287 

4 

10.57 

20 

244 

— 

I.9I 

65 

283 

7 

11.32 

21 

341 

4 

2.68 

66 

276 

H 

12.06 

22 

395 

7 

3.12 

67 

262 

8 

12.48 

23 

445 

3 

3-54 

68 

254 

13 

13.20 

24 

469 

5 

3.76 

69 

241 

ii 

13.67 

25 

486 

9 

3-92 

70 

230 

10 

14.62 

26 

489 

4 

3.98 

7i 

220 

10 

14.88 

27 

491 

5 

4-03 

72 

2IO 

8 

15-49 

28 

493 

4 

4.07 

73 

202 

ii 

16.16 

29 

495 

2 

4-13 

74 

I9I 

10 

16.61 

30 

494 

6 

4.16 

75 

181 

ii 

17.07 

31 

489 

2 

4.16 

76 

170 

IO 

17-39 

32 

488 

3 

4.20 

77 

1  60 

16 

17-77 

33 

485 

2 

4-23 

78 

144 

12 

77-39 

34 

483 

4 

4.26 

79 

132 

14 

17-38 

35 

479 

2 

4.29 

80 

118 

8 

17-05 

36 

477 

5 

4-34 

81 

no 

16 

17-45 

37 

472 

8 

4-36 

82 

94 

10 

16.38 

38 

464 

12 

4-37 

83 

84 

13 

16.08 

39 

452 

3 

4-33 

84 

7i 

ii 

15.00 

40 

449 

3 

4.40 

85 

60 

13 

14-13 

4i 

446 

8 

4.46 

86 

47 

10 

12.49 

42 

438 

3 

4-49 

87 

37 

5 

II.  21 

43 

435 

8 

4-57 

88 

32 

6 

I2.O9 

44 

427 

4 

4.62 

89 

26 

7 

10.29 

45 

423 

7 

4.71      . 

90 

19 

5 

8.64 

46 

416 

8 

4.80 

9i 

14 

5 

7-45 

47 

408 

4 

4.89 

92 

9 

3 

5."i 

48. 

404 

5 

5.05 

93 

6 

2 

4.40 

49 

399 

4 

5.22 

94 

4 



3-43 

50 

395 

5 

5-44 

95 

4 

— 

4.00 

51 

390 

4 

5-67 

96 

4 

I 

4.00 

52 

386 

5 

5-94 

97 

3 

I 

3.00 

53 

38i 

7 

6.22 

98 

2 

— 

2.OO 

54 

374 

5 

6.50 

99 

2 

I 

2.OO 

55 

369 

8 

6.85 

IOO 

I 



I.OO 

56 

361 

10 

7.I8 

101 

I 

— 

I.OO 

57 

35i 

8 

7.48 

102 

I 

I 

I.OO 

58 

343 

7 

7.84 

59 

336 

12 

8.30 

Total, 

540 

659.78 

Appendix 


743 


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744  Yale  College 

In  spite  of  the  unfavorable  assumptions  regarding  doubtful  cases 
included  in  the  table,  there  are  shown  less  mortality-rates  at  almost 
all  ages  than  were  exhibited  in  the  earlier  groups  of  graduates. 

The  same  relations  between  the  different  age  groups  are  dis- 
covered as  appeared  in  previous  studies, — the  high  mortality 
immediately  after  graduation,  and  in  the  decade  36-45. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  ratios  between  actual  and  expected 
deaths  in  total  and  by-age  groups,  with  those  found  in  the  earlier 
graduates.  There  is  evident  a  steady  betterment  of  conditions  of 
living  as  we  pass  from  pioneer  times  toward  the  end  of  the  i8th 
Century,  and  indeed  we  go  well  to  the  middle  of  the  iQth  Century. 

This  comparison  is  to  a  certain  extent  misleading,  because  of 
the  presence  of  a  remarkable  body  of  lives  in  the  present  group. 
The  American  Table  states  that  of  100,000  lives  at  the  age  of  10 
none  may  expect  to,  pass  the  age  of  96.  In  100,000  insured  lives 
at  the  present  day  one  might  expect  to  find  as  many  as  four  of 
96  years  of  age,  or  older.  It  is  most  extraordinary,  therefore,  to 
find  in  this  small  i8th-Century  group  of  540  lives,  four  that  reach 
the  tabular  limit,  three  surpassing  it,  and  one  dying  in  his  iO2nd 
year. 

RESIDENCES 

The  total  number  of  graduates  commemorated  in  the  present 
volume  is  543,  of  whom  the  origin  of  all  but  one  (Samuel  Welles, 
1783)  is  known.  The  places  of  their  nativity  are  as  follows: — 
Connecticut,  443  (New  Haven  County,  120;  Hartford  County,  81 ; 
New  London  County,  59;  Litchfield  County,  58;  Middlesex 
County,  41 ;  Fairfield  County,  40 ;  Tolland  County,  25 ;  Windham 
County,  19)  ;  Massachusetts,  68 ;  New  York,  20 ;  Rhode  Island, 
7;  New  Hampshire,  2;  Vermont,  i;  South  Carolina,  I. 

In  the  matter  of  residence  those  whose  later  history  is  known 
may  be  classified  as  follows: — Connecticut,  256;  New  York,  108; 
Massachusetts,  50;  Vermont,  25;  Ohio,  12;  Pennsylvania,  u; 
South  Carolina,  9;  Maine,  6;  etc. 

Of  these  graduates,  168  were  lawyers;  129,  ministers;  57, 
doctors. 


Appendix  745 


ADDITIONS  AND   CORRECTIONS— VOL.   I. 

Page  66,  line  2.  DANIEL  CHAPMAN  married,  secondly,  Grissel,  daughter 
of  Albert  and  Elizabeth  (Wakeman)  Dennie,  of  Fairfield;  and  she  died 
on  June  10,  1754,  in  her  57th  year. 

Page  245,  line  15.  WILLIAM  BRINTNALL'S  widow  next  married  Samuel  Dar- 
ling, of  New  Haven. 

Page  298,  line  12.     HENRY  CANER  died  on  October  30,  1792. 

Page  314,  line  2  from  bottom.  BENJAMIN  FENN'S  widow  married  Archibald 
McNeil,  of  Milford,  Branford,  and  New  Haven,  and  died  in  1777-78. 
Her  grandson,  William  McNeil,  was  graduated  in  1777. 

Page  374,  last  line.  DAVID  OGDEN  married  Gertrude  Gouverneur,  probably 
daughter  of  Isaac  and  Sara  (Staats)  Gouverneur,  of  New  York  City, 
born  1716. 

Page  514,  last  line.  BENJAMIN  THROOP  was  born  on  January  9,  1712,  being 
the  son  of  William  Throop  by  his  first  wife,  Martha  Collyer,  and  thus  a 
half-brother  of  William  Throop  (Y.  C.  1743).  His  own  marriage  was 
on  November  27,  1735. 

Page  537,  line  24.  AZARIAH  HORTON  married  Eunice  Foster,  of  Southamp- 
ton, Long  Island. 

Page  562,  line  16.  JONATHAN  HALL'S  next  older  brother  was  born  in 
January,  1704. 

Page  573,  line  3  from  bottom.  CHRISTOPHER  CHRISTOPHER'S  wife  died  on 
January  14,  1765,  aged  38  years. 

Page  576,  line  2.  RICE  HALL  is  called  "Dr."  in  the  notice  of  his  death  on 
the  Wallingford  records. 

Page  642,  line  17.  PETER  CURTISS  removed  to  Kent,  Connecticut,  about  1754, 
and  in  1759  to  Lanesboro,  Massachusetts,  where  he  died  on  March  12, 

1775- 

Page  769,  line  n.  DAVID  WILCOXSON  married  on  December  8,  1756,  Israelia, 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  (Jeanes)  Salmon,  of  Stratford,  born 
1735- 

VOL.  II. 

Page  66,  line  2.     SAMUEL  TUTHILL  was  born  on  September  22,  1724.     His 

wife  was  at  the  time  of  their  marriage  the  widow  of   Colonel  Jacob 

Ford,  Jr. 
Page  171,  line  3.     SOLOMON  MEAD  first  married,  on  January  i,  1755,  Hannah 

Strong,  of  Stamford,  Connecticut,  who  died  on  October  20,  1761.     He 

next    married,    in    January,    1765,    Hannah,    daughter    of    Thomas    and 

Sarah    (Strong)    Clark,    of    Waterbury,    Connecticut,   who    died   before 

him. 
Page  333,  line  2.     BENJAMIN   HALL   married,   secondly,   on   April    16,    1767, 

Hannah,  daughter  of  Josiah  Burnham,  of  Kensington,  Connecticut. 
Page  503,  line  10.     NOAH  WILLISTON'S  second  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Josiah 

and  Lydia   (Ashley)    Pomeroy,  of  Northampton,  Massachusetts. 
Page  528,  line  22.     JOHN  DIBBLE'S  first  wife  died  on  May  9,  1785;    and  his 

second  early  in  January,   1813,  aged  76  years. 
Page  552,  line  10    from   bottom.    AARON    PHELPS    was    a   brother    of   Seth 

Phelps  (Yale  1760),  born  on  May  7,  1734.     He  was  a  lawyer  in  Suffield, 

Connecticut,  and  died  there  on  June  24,  1804. 


746  Vale  College 

Page  580,  line  5.  BENJAMIN  DUNNING  married  Mrs.  Anna  Botsford,  in 
Newtown,  on  June  16,  1762. 

Page  628,  line  n.  NOADIAH  WARNER'S  widow,  Elizabeth,  died  in  South- 
bury,  Connecticut,  in  September,  1812,  aged  75  years. 

Page  762,  line  21.  SIMEON  MILLER,  son  of  Captain  Jonathan  and  Sarah 
(Allyn)  Miller,  was  born  in  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  in  1743.  His 
parents  removed  in  1745  to  Avon,  Connecticut. 

VOL.  III. 

Page   67,    line   21.     SAMUEL   DANIELSON    married   secondly   Mrs.    Elizabeth 

Spaulding  Howe,  by  whom  he  had  several  children. 
Page  123,  line  6  from  bottom.     STARLING  GRAVES  is  buried  in  East  Haddam, 

where  he  died  on  September  23,  1772,  in  his  34th  year. 
Page  134,  line  9  from  bottom.    APOLLOS  LEONARD  married  Prudence,  daughter 

of    Nathaniel    and    Sarah    (Thrasher)     White,    of    Taunton,    born    on 

September  I,  1752.     Her  mother  had  married  Nehemiah  Dean  in  1766. 
Page  324,  line  6  from  bottom.     TIMOTHY  DWIGHT  died  on  January  n,  1817. 
Page  332,  line  13.    TIMOTHY  DWIGHT  was  not  the  author  of  the  Essay  on 

the  Stage,  as  is  clear  from  internal  evidence. 
Page  423,  last  line.    ALLYN    MATHER'S    wife     (Mrs.    Townsend)     died    in 

Middletown,  Connecticut,  at  the  home  of  a  son-in-law,  on  August   19, 

1828,  aged  77  years. 
Page  689,  line  4  from  bottom.     WILLIAM   LITTLE  married,  on  May  9,   1790, 

Frances,    daughter    of    James    Boyd,    of    Newburyport,    Massachusetts, 

who  died  in    1834,   aged  64  years.     They  had  eight  children.     Robbins 

Little   (Yale  1851)   is  a  grandson. 

VOL.  IV. 

Page  32,  line  7  from  bottom.  JONATHAN  FRISBIE  died  on  December  24, 
1804,  in  his  54th  year,  and  his  widow  died  on  April  3,  1807. 

Page  213,  line  6  from  bottom,  for  1781  read  1782. 

Page  226,  line  15.  WALTER  KING'S  first  wife  died  on  May  17,  1791,  and  his 
second  on  March  8,  1799.  His  third  marriage  was  on  December  21,  1803. 

Page  386,  line  3.     WILLIAM  P.  BEERS  seems  to  have  remained  in  Connecticut 

until  near  the  time  of  his  marriage. 
He  published : 

1.  An  Address  to  the  Legislature  and  People  of  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
on   the   Subject   of   dividing  the    State   into   Districts    for  the    Election    of 
Representatives    in   Congress.      By  a    Citizen   of   Connecticut.     New-Haven. 
1791.    8°,  pp.  37-  [y-  C. 

2.  An  Oration  on  the  Death  of  General  Washington ;    pronounced  before 
the  Citizens  of  Albany,  on  Thursday,  January  9th,  1800.     Albany.     8°,  pp.  17. 

[B.  Ath.    Harv.    M.  H.  S.    N.  Y.  H.  S. 


INDEX 


Italics  indicate  the  graduates  of  whom  Biographical  Sketches  are  given. 


Adams,  John,  degree  to,  588 
Andrews,  Samuel  J.   (1785),  378-79 
Atwater,  Jason    (1781),    177 
Atwater,  Jeremiah  M.   (1785),  380 
Atwater,  Moses   (1787),  524-25 
Atwater,  Noah   (1774),  Tutor,  213 
Augur,  Joel   (1784),  320-21 
Austin,  David   (1779),  91-97 
Austin,  Samuel  (1783),  248-57 
Backus,  Azel   (1787),  525-28 
Backus,  Matthew  (1787),  528 
Badger,  Joseph  (1785),  380-84 
Baldwin,  Abraham   (1772),  89,  175 
Baldwin,  Augustus    (1787),   528-29 
Baldwin,  Simeon      (1781),      178-80; 

Tutor,  318,  448 
Baldwin,  William  (1779),  97 
Ball,  Stephen   (1784),  321 
Barlow,  Joel  (1778),  3-16 
Barnes,  Jonathan  (1784),  321 
Barnett,  John  (1780),  137-39 
Bartholomeiv,  Phineas   (1778),  16-17 
Bassett,  Amos  (1784),  322-25  ;  Tutor, 

626 

Beardsley,  Horace   (1787),  529 
Beebe,  David  L.   (1785),  384-85 
Beers,  William  P.  (1785),  385-86,  746 
Belden,  David   (1785),  386 
Bclden,  Joshua  (1787),  530 
Belknqp,  Ebenezer  (1785),  387 
Bell,  Benjamin   (1779),  97-101 
Benedict,  Noah  B.    (1788),   590-91 
Benjamin,  De  Lucena  (1788),  591 
Bid-well,    Barnabas    (1785),    387-90; 

Tutor,  588,  701 

Bingham,  Silas  L.   (1790),  662-63 
Bird,  John  (1786),  451-52 
Bishop,  Abraham   (1778),  17-24 
Bishop,  John  (1787),  530-31 
Blakesley,  Tillotson    (1785),   390-91 
Blakslee,   Solomon    (1785),   391-93 
Bliss,  Enos  (1787),  531-32 
Bliss,  George  (1784),  325-27 
Bliss,  William  M.   (1790),  663 
Bloodgood,  Francis  (1787),  532 
Boardman,  Daniel  (1781),  181-82 
Bogue,  Publius  V.   (1787),  533~34 
Bosttvick,  Samuel  (1780),  139 
Bowen,  Obadiah  (1782),  215 
Brace,  Jonathan   (1779),  101-03 
Bradford,  Jeremiah  (1779),  103-04 
Bradley,  Dan  (1789),  628-29 
Bradley,  Joel    (1789),  630-31 
Bradley,  William    (1784),  327 


Brainard,  Jeremiah  G.  (1779),  104-06 
Brainerd,  Jehu  (1783),  257 
Breed,  Shubael  (1778),  24-25 
Breed,  Simeon   (1781),  182 
Branson,  Tillotson    (1786),   452-55 
Broome,  Samuel   P.    (1786),    455-56 
Brown,  Daniel   (1783),  257-58 
Brown,  William    (1784),   327-28 
Brown,  William    (1789),   631-32 
Bruce,  Phineas   (1786),  456-57 
Buell,  Aaron  (1778),  25 
Buffett,  Platt  (1791),  703 
Bulkley,  Peter  (1785),  393 
Bullard,  Eli  (1787),  534-35 
Burghardt,  Hugo   (1787),  535 
Burrall,  Jonathan  (1781),  182-83 
Butler,  Frederick   (1785),  393-95 
Caldwell,  Harry  (1784),  329 
Caldwell,  Henry  (1784),  329 
Camp,  Joseph  E.    (1787),  535-36 
Canfield,  Judson  (1782),  215-16 
Carrington,  Samuel    (1786),  457 
Catlin,  Daniel    (1779),   106 
Catlin,  Jacob   (1784),  329-32 
Catlin,  Lynde  (1786),  458 
Catlin,  Russell   (1784),  332-33 
Caulkins,  John    (1788),   592 
Channing,    Henry     (1781),     183-86; 

Tutor,  318,  448 
Chapin,  Calvin  (1788),  592-95  ;  Tutor, 

740 

Chapin,  David    (1788),   595-96 
Chaplin,  Benjamin    (1778),  25-26 
Chapman,  Daniel   (1789),  632-33 
Chenevard,  Michael  (1788),  596 
Chester,  Stephen  (1780),  140 
Chester,  Thomas    (1780),   140-41; 

Tutor,  246 

Churchill,  Silas    (1787),   536-37 
Clap,  Caleb  (1785),  395 
Clark,  Jehu   (1794),  701 
Clark,  Smith  (1786),  459 
Clarke,  Abraham   L.    (1785),   395-96 
Clarke,  Adam  S.    (1788),  596 
Clarke,  James  B.  (1785),  397 
Clinton,  Isaac   (1786),  459-61 
Cobb,  William    (1788),  597 
Cogswell,  Mason  F.   (1780),  141-43 
Cogszvell,  Roger  (1784),  333-34 
Cole,  Matthew   (1783),  258 
Collins,  Aaron  C.  (1786),  461-62 
Col  ton,  Abishai  (1783),  259 
Cone,  Daniel  (1784),  334 
Cone,  Salmon  (1789),  633 
Cook,  Daniel  (1787),  537-38 


Cook,  Justus  (1779),  107 
Cook,  Thaddeus  (1783),  259-60 
Cooke,  Amos    (1791),   703-04 
Cooke,  Daniel    (1780),    143-44 
Cooke,  Daniel  B.   (1788),  597 
Cooke,' Enos  (1785),  397 
Cooke,  Oliver  D.  (1786),  463 
Cornwell,  Wait  (1782),  216-17 
Cowles,  Giles  H.   (1789),  634-35 
Cowles,  Whitfield    (1788),  598-99 
Crocker,  Daniel  (1782),  217-18 
Cutler,   Manasseh    (1765),   Diary  of, 

521-22 

Daggett,  David    (1783),   260-64 
Daggett,  Ebeneser    (1778),   26 
Daggett,  Naphtali  (1748),  135;  death 

of,  175 

Dana,  Daniel  (1782),  218-19 
Dana,  Samuel   W.    (1775),   tract  by, 

3i8 

Darling,  David    (1779),    107-08 
Deane,  Silas    (1758),  proposal   of,    I 
Denison,     Joseph     (1784),     334~35; 

Tutor,  448,  626 

Dering,  Henry  P.    (1784),  335-36 
Devotion,  John   (1785),  398 
Dewey,  Joshua   (1787),  538-39 
DeW'itt,  Abraham  V.   (1785),  398-99 
Dibble,  John  A.  (1778),  27 
Dickinson,  John  D.   (1785),  399-400 
Dickinson,  Obadiah  (1778),  27 
Dimon,  Ebeneser    (1783),   264-65 
Doolittle,  Elkanah   (1789),  636 
Dow,  Hendricus    (1784),    336-37 
Drake,  Joseph  (1785),  400 
Dutton,  Ebeneser    (1787),   539-40 
Eastman,  John   (1788),  599 
Edson,  Joel   (1764),  337~38 
Edwards,  Jonathan  W.  (1789), 

636-37 

Eells,  Osias   (1779),  108-09 
Eells,  Roger  (1785),  401 
Eliot,  Joseph    (1784),  338 
Ellery,  Christopher  (1787),  540 
Elliot,  Nathan    (1789),  637-38 
Elliott,  John   (1786),  463-67 
Elliott,  Stephen  (1791),  704-07 
Ellis,  Jonathan   (1786),  467-69 
Ellsworth,  John   (1785),  401-02 
El\,  Benjamin    (1786),  469 
Ely,  David    (1769),  Fellow,  588 
Ely,  Henry  (1778),  28-29 
Ely,  John    (1786),   469-71 
Ely,  Richard   (1785),  402-03 
Ely,  William   (1787),  541-42 
Ely,  Worthington  (1780),  144-45 
Ely,  Zebulon  (1779),  109-13;    Tutor, 

213,  246 

Evertson,  Nicholas   (1787),  543 
Fair  child,  Reuben   (1785),  403 
Farrand,  Daniel   (1781),  186-87 
Fay,  John   (1790),  664 
Fellows,  John    (1783),   12-13,  265-68 


Fenn,  Stephen  (1790),  664-65 
Field,  Simeon  (1785),  403-04 
Fitch,  Ebenezer  (1777),  Tutor,  175, 

247,  448,  740 

Flint,  Abel  (1785),  404-07 
Foot,  John  A.   (1790),  665 
Foot,  Joseph    (1787),   543-44 
Foote,  Enos  (1791),  707 
Foster,  Edmund   (1778),  29-32 
Fowler,  Andrew  (1783),  268-71 
Fowler,  John  H.  (1790),  666 
Fowler,  Saul    (1784).   338-39 
Fowler,  Stephen  (1779),  113-14 
Foider,  William    (1780),   145 
Frisbie,  Jonathan   (1778),  32,  746 
Fuller,  Israel  (1782),  219 
Fuller,  Jonathan    (1783),  271-72 
Gale,  Benjamin  (1788),  600 
Garnsey,  Lemuel  (1782),  219 
Gay,  Ebeneser  (1787),  544-46;  Tutor, 

701 

Gay,  William    (1789),  638 
Gelston,  Maltby   (1791),  708-09 
Gilbert,  Benjamin  J.    (1786),  472-73 
Gilbert,  Ezekiel  (1778),  33 
Gilbert,  Hezekiah    (1783),  272 
Gold,  Thomas  (1778),  33-34 
Gold,  Thomas  R.  (1786),  473-75 
Goodrich,  Charles  A.   (1786),  475 
Goodrich,  Chauncey    (1776),    Tutor, 

135,  175 

Goodrich,  Ehhu  C.  (1784),  339 
Goodrich,  Elizur   (1779),  114-17; 

Tutor,  175,  213,  246 
Goodrich,  Hesekiah    (1785),    407-08 
Goodrich,  Hezekiah  (1788),  600 
Goodrich,  John  (1778),  34-35 
Goodrich,  Russell  (1785),  408 
Goodrich,  Samuel   (1783),  272-74 
Gould,  James  (1791),  709-11 
Gould,  Orchard  (1783),  275 
Granger,  Gideon  (1787),  546-49 
Graves,  William   (1785),  400-10 
Greene,  Ray    (1784),  339-40 
Gridley,  Elihu   (1781),  187 
Gridley,  Elijah  (1784),  340-41 
Gridley,  Elijah   (1788),  600-01 
Gridley,  Uriel  (1783),  275-76 
Griffin,  Edward  D.  (1790),  23,  666-76 
Griffing,  Nathaniel    (1786),    475-76 
Griggs,  Isaac   (1783),  276-77 
Griswold,  Gaylord   (1787),  549 
Griswold,  Matthew   (1780),  145-46 
Grisivold,  Roger  (1780),  146-49 
Griswold,  Stanley    (1786),  476-81 
Grosvenor,  Pearley   (1785),  410 
Hackley,  Levi  (1785),  410 
Hale,  David  (1785),  410-12 
Hall,  Lee  (1789),  638-39 
Hall,  Prince  B.  (1788),  602 
Hall,  William  B.  (1786),  481-82 
Hallock,  Moses  (1788),  602-04 
Halsey,  Edward  (1786),  482 


Index 


749 


Harrison,  Roger  (1791),  711-12 
Hart,  Levi   (1760),  Fellow,  701 
Hart,  Seth  (1784),  341-43 
Harvard  graduates  as  Yale  Fellows, 

135 

Harvey,  Rufus    (1789),  639 
Haskell,  Samuel  (1790),  676-77 
Hathaivay,  Joshua  (1787),  550-51 
Hawley,  William   (1787),  551-52 
Hazeltine,  Silas  (1779),  117 
Henshaiv,  Joshua  (1785),  412-13 
Higgins,  David   (1785),  413-15 
Hillhouse,  James    (1773),  Treasurer, 

740 

Hillyer,  Asa  (1786).  482-84 
Hinckley,  Dyar  T.   (1785),  415-16 
Hinckley,  Samuel   (1781),   188 
Hinman,  Cyrus  (1789),  640 
Hinman,  Simeon  (1784),  344 
Hinman,  Timothy   (1784),  344-45 
Hitchcock,  Reuben  (1786),  484-85 
Holmes,  Abiel  (1783),  277-85  ;  Tutor, 

448,  588 

Holmes,  Uriel  (1784),  345-46 
Holt,  Thomas   (1784),  346-48 
Honcywood,  St.  John  (1782),  219-22 
Hooker,  Asahel   (1789),  640-43 
Hooker,  John   (1782),  222-23 
Hopkins,  Samuel  M.    (1791),  712-16 
Hosmer,  Stephen   T.    (1782),  223-24 
Hotchkiss,  Frederick  W.  (1778), 

35-38 

Hotchkiss,  Obadiah    (1778),    38-39 
Hubbard,  Lucius   (1788),  604-05 
Hubbard,  William   (1785).  416 
Hubbard,  William  G.   (1785),  416-17 
Huggins,  Heaton   (1784),  348 
Hull,  David   (1785),  417-18 
Hunt,  Ebenezer   (1787),  552 
Huntington,  Enoch     (1759),    Fellow, 

135 

Huntington,  Enoch  (1785),  418 
Huntington,  Erastus  (1791),  716 
Huntington,  Jabez  (1784),  225, 

348-49 

Huntington,  Jonathan  (1789),  643-44 
Huntington,  Lynde  (1788),  605-06 
Huntington,  Samuel  (1785),  419-20 
Hyde,  Gershom  C.  (1788),  606 
Ingersoll,  John    (1790),   677-78 
Isaacs,  Benjamin  (1781),  189 
Isaacs,  Ralph  (1784),  349-50 
Ives,  Isaac  (1785),  420-21 
Ives,  Joseph  (1782),  224 
Ives,  Levi  (1791),  717 
Ives,  Reuben   (1786),  485-86 
Jacob,  Stephen  (1778),  39-41 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  degree  to,  449 
Jezvett,  David  M..  (1787),  553 
Jocelin,  Samuel  R.  (1783),  285-86 
Johnson,  Caleb    (1785),   421-22 
Johnson,  Robert  C.   (1783),  286-87 
Johnson,  Samuel  W.    (1779),  118 


Johnson,  Stephen   (1743),  Fellow,  521 
Johnson,  William  (1778),  41 
Johnson,  William  (1788),  607-08 
Jones,  Samuel    (1790),  678-80 
Judson,  David  (1778),  41-42 
Judson,  Roswell  (1787),  553-55 
Judson,  Samuel  (1790),  680-81 
Kellogg,  Aaron  (1778),  42 
Kellogg,  Gardiner   (1791),  717-18 
Kent,  James  (1781),  189-94 
Kibbe,  William   (1787),  555 
Kimberly,  Liberty   (1787),  555 
King,  Walter  (1782),  224-27,  746 
Kingsbury,  Ebenezer  (1783),  287-88 
Kingsbury,  John  (1786),  487-88 
Kirkland,  Joseph   (1790),  681^82 
Kirtland,  Ambrose   (1779),   119 
Kirtland,  Dorrance  (1789),  644-45 
Langdon,  Chauncey    (1787),    556-57 
Langdon,  Henry  S.   (1785),  422-23 
Langdon,  Timothy  (1781),  194-95 
Lanman,  James   (1788),  608-09 
Lathrop,  Charles  (1788),  609-10 
Lathrop,  Daniel    (1733),  bequest  of, 

213 

Lathrop,  Daniel    (1787),    557-58 
Lathrop,  Elijah  L.    (1787),  558 
Lathrop,  Gurdon   (1787),  559 
Law,  Lyman   (1791),  718-19 
Lay,  John  (1780),  149-50 
Leavenworth,  Melines  C.  (1784), 

350-51 

Leavenworth,  Nathan    (1778),    42-43 
Leavitt,  Jonathan    (1785),   423-24 
Lee,  Chauncey  (1784),  351-55 
Leffingwell,   William   (1786),  448-90 
Leonard,  Elijah   (1783),  288-90 
Lewis,  Daniel  W.    (1788),  610-11 
Lewis,  Oliver   (1780),   150-51  . 
Lewis,  Seth  (1783),  290 
Linsly,  Noah  (1791).  719-20 
Livingston,  Henry  W.  (1786),  490-91 
Livingston,  Peter  S.    (1789),   645-46 
Lockwood,  Samuel  (1745),  death  of, 

701 
Lockwood,  William  (1774),  Tutor, 

89,  175 

Lord,  Lynde  (1783),  290-91 
Lord,  Thomas    (1780),   151 
Lord,  William  (1784),  355-56 
Lothrop,  John  H.    (1787),  559-61 
Lovett,  John   (1782),  227-29 
Lyman,  Joseph  (1783),  291-93 
Lyman,  Micah  J.    (1785),  424-25 
Lyman,  William    (1784),   356-58 
McClellan,  John  (1785),  425-26 
McCurdy,  Richard  (1787),  561-62 
Maltby,  Isaac   (1786),  491-92 
Maltby,  Jonathan    (1779),    119-20 
Mansfield,  William    (1784),  358-59 
Marsh,  Samuel    (1786),  492-93 
Marsh,  Silas   (1784),  359 
Marsh,  Truman   (1786),  493-94 


75° 


Yale  College 


Marvin,  Matthew    (1785),  426-28 
Mason,  Jeremiah   (1788),  611-14 
Masters,  Josiah   (1783),  293-94 
Masters,  Nicholas  S.  (1779),  120 
Mather,  Charles  (1785),  428 
Mather,  Moses  (1739),  Fellow,  660 
Mather,  Samuel   (1784),  359-60 
May,  Calvin  (1786),  495 
Mead,  Lemuel  (1784),  360 
Mead,  Shadrach  (1779),  120-21 
Meigs,  Josiah  (1778),  43-47,  I7S,  246, 

3i8 

Meigs,  Return  J.    (1785),  428-30 
Merrick,  Jonathan  (1783),  294 
Merriman,  Silas    (1789),   646 
Merwin,  Miles   (1782),  229 
Miles,  Smith  (1791),  720-21 
Miller,  Asher   (1778),  48-49 
Miller,  David   (1786),  495 
Miller,  Jonathan    (1781),   195-97 
Miller,  Phineas  (1785),  430-31 
Miller,  William  F.    (1786),  495-98 
Mills,  Isaac   (1786),  498-99 
Mix,  John    (1778),  49 
Monson,  JEneas   (1780),  151-53 
Morgan,  Solomon   (1791),  721-22 
Morris,  Asahel    (1789),   646-47 
Morse,  Jedidiah   (1783),  295-304; 

Tutor,  448,  521 

Moseley,  Abner  (1786),  499-500 
Moseley,  Elizur  (1786),  500 
Moseley,  Jonathan  O.  (1780),  153-54 
Moss,  Reuben  (1787),  562-64 
Mumjord,  Benjamin  M.    (1790),  683 
Mumford,  Thomas  (1790),  683-84 
Munson,  Elisha    (1784),  360-61 
Munson,  Israel  (1787),  564-65 
Nash,  Daniel  (1785),  431-32 
Nash,  William  (1791),  722-23 
New  Haven,  Invasion  of,  89 ;   descrip- 
tion of,  521-22 
Nezvell,  Gad  (1786),  501-02 
Newell,  Samuel   (1781),  197 
Newton,  Roger  (1785),  432-33,  626 
Norton,  Asahel  S.    (1790),   684-86 
Nott,  Abraham    (1787),   565-67 
Nott,  Samuel  (1780),  154-59 
Noyes,  James  (1782),  229-30 
Noyes,  John   (1779),   121-23 
Noyes,  Joseph  (1778),  49-50 
Noyes,  Matthew  (1785),  433-34 
Noyes,  William   (1781),   198 
Olmsted,  Zachariah  (1785),  434 
Osborn,  Jonathan  (1789),  647 
Osgood,  Jonathan  (1789),  647-48 
Paine,  Elijah   (1789),  649 
Parmelc,  Reuben  (1781),  198-99 
"Parnassus,"    articles  entitled,  246 
Parsons,  Benjamin  (1791),  723-24 
Payne,  Elisha  (1779),  123-24 
Pearce,  Amos  (1783),  304-05 
Peck,  Jabez  (1784),  361 
Perkins,  Benjamin  (1785),  435 


Perkins,  Elias   (1786),  502-03 
Perkins,  Elijah  (1787),  567 
Perkins,  Enoch    (1781),   199-200; 

Tutor,  318,  448 

Perkins,  John  D.   (1791),  724-25 
Perkins,  Samuel  (1785),  435-37 
Peters,  John  T.   (1789),  650 
Pettibone,  Giles  (1778),  50-51 
P helps,  Noah  A.    (1783),  305-06 
Phclps,  Timothy  (1780),  159-60 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  135 
Pit  kin,  Oliver  (1787),  567 
Pitkin,  Samuel  (1779),  124-25 
Pit  kin,  Theodore  (1783),  306-07 
Pitkin,  Timothy  (1785),  437-39 
Pixley,  Erastus  (1780),  160 
Porter,  Edward  (1786),  504-05 
Porter,  Isaac  (1788),  614 
Porter,  Peter  B.  (1791),  725-28 
Potter,  Daniel  (1780),  160-61 
Prentice,  Jonas    (1784),   361-62 
Pynchon,  Stephen   (1789),  651 
Raynolds,  Freegrace    (1787),    568-69 
Reed,  Daniel  (1778),  51 
Reynolds,  William  A.   (1789),  652 
Ripley,  Hezekiah  (1763),  Fellow,  660 
Ripley.  William   B.    (1786),   505 
Robbins,  Asher  (1782),  231-34 
Robinson,  John    (1780),    161-63 
Robinson,  William      (1773),     Tutor, 

135 

Roe,  Benjamin  S.   (1784),  362  • 
Rogers,  Ammi   (1790),  686^30 
Root,  Ephraim   (1782),  234-35 
Root,  James  B.   (1790),  690-91 
Rose,_  Daniel  (1791),  728-29 
Rossiter,  Nathaniel    (1785),    439-40 
Russell,  Matthew  T.   (1779),  125-26; 

Tutor,  246,  448 

Russell,  Samuel  (1780),  163-64 
Sage,  Ebcnezer  (1778),  51-52 
Sage,  Sylvester    (1787),   569-71 
St.  John,  Eliphalet  (1791),  729-30 
S  alter,  John   (1788),  615 
Salter,  Richard,  Fellow,  135 
Saltmarsh,  John  (1786),  506 
Saltonstall,  Dudley   (1791),  730 
Seabury,  Samuel    (1748),  375 
S  carle,  Samuel  D.   (1781),  200-01 
Selden,  David   (1782),  235-36 
Selden,  Edward   (1783),  307 
Selden,  George   (1786),  506-07 
Seward,  John  P.  (1784),  362-63 
Seymour,  William   (1779),  126 
Sheldon,  Alexander   (1787),  572 
Shelton,  William  (1788),  615-16 
Sherman,  Roger  (1787),  573 
Sherzvood,  Samuel  B.  (1786),  507-08 
Slosson,  Barzillai    (1791),   730-31 
Smith,  Aaron  (1790),  691 
Smith,  Daniel  (1791),  731-32 
Smith,  Elihu  H.  (1786),  508-11 
Smith,  Elihu  P.   (1785),  440 


Index 


Smith,  Elnathan    (1788),  616-17 
Smith,  Israel  (1781),  201-02 
Smith,  John  C.   (1783),  307-10 
Smith,  Noah    (1778),,    52-54 
Smith,  S.  Samuel   (1781),  202-03 
Smith,  Zephaniah  H.   (1782),  236-37 
Spaulding,  Asa   (1778),  54-55 
Spaulding,  Josiah  (1778),  55-58 
Spelman,  Robert   (1785),  441 
Spencer,  Jared  (1784),  363 
Stanley,  Adna  (1787),  573-74 
Stanton,  Joshua  (1788),  617 
Stearns,  John  (1789),  652-54 
Stebbins,  Daniel    (1788),    618-19 
Stebbins,  Josiah    (1791),    733-34 
Stebbins,  Stephen  W.   (1781),  203-04 
Stedman,  Thomas  (1785),  441 
Steele,  Marsh  field   (1790),  692-93 
Steele,  Nathaniel  (1788),  619 
Sterling,  Elisha    (1787),  574-75 
Stevens,  John  (1779),  126-28 
Stiles,  Isaac   (1783),  310-11 
Stiles,  Nathan  (1787),  575-76 
Stoddard,  John  (1787),  576-77 
Stoddard,  Solomon   (1790),  693-94 
Stone,  William    (1786),   511-13 
Storrs,  Richard  S.   (1783),  311-13 
Starrs,  Seth    (1778),  58-59 
Strong,  Joseph  (1784),  364-65 
Strong,  Joseph  (1788),  620-21 
Strong,  Nehemiah   (1755),  Profes- 
sor, 213,  246-47 
Strong,  Simeon   (1786),  513 
Sturgcs,  Lewis  B.   (1782),  237-38 
Sturges,  Samuel  (1787),  577-78 
Swift,  Zephaniah  (1778),  60-63 
Taylor,  John  (1784),  365-68 
Taylor,  William   (1785),  442 
Taylor,  William  (1787),  578-79 
Terry,  Nathaniel  (1786),  514-15 
Thompson,  James   (1789),  654-55 
Thompson,  Samuel  (1790),  694 
Thompson,  William  A.    (1782), 

238-40 

Todd,  Ambrose    (1786),    515-16 
Todd,  Eli  (1787),  579-82 
Tomlinson,  Abraham    (1785),  442-43 
Tomlinson,  Daniel    (1781),    205-06 
Tomlinson,  Jabez  H.    (1780),   164-65 
Tomlinson,  Zachariah    (1788),    621 
Tousey,  Thomas  (1785),  443 
Townsend,  Jeremiah  (1779),  128 
Townsend,  Jesse  (1790),  695-96 
Tracy,  Uri  (1789),  656 
Tracy,  Uriah  (1778),  63-66 
Trumbull,  Benjamin    (1790),   697 
Trumbull,  John  (1735),  Fellow,  588 
Tuttle,  Andrew   (1784),  368 
Tyler,  Calvin    (1787),  582 
Tyler,  Lemuel    (1780),    165-66 
Van    Rensselaer,    Jacob    R.    (1786), 

516-17 
Wadsworth,  Decius  (1785),  443-44 


Wads-worth,  James  (1787),  582-84 
Waite,  Ezra    (1782),  240-41 
Wakelce,  James   (1784),  369 
Waldo,  Daniel    (1788),    621-23 
Wales,    Samuel     (1767),    Professor, 

448 

Warner,  John    (1783),  313 
Warner,  Selden   (1782),  241 
Washington,  George,  175,  660 
Waterman,  Elijah   (1791),  734-38 
Webb,  Samuel  (1779),  128-29 
Webster,  Noah  (1778),  66-79 
Weed,  Stephen  (1783),  313 
Welch,  John  (1778),  79-80 
Welles,  George  (1779),  129-30 
Welles,  Ro swell   (1784),  369 
Welles,  Samuel  (1783),  314 
Welles,  William    (1779),    130 
Wells,  Sylvester  (1781),  206-07 
Wetmore,  Ichabod  (1778),  80 
Wheeler,  William   (1779),   130-31 
W 'heeler,  William  (1785),  444-45 
White,  Calvin  (1786),  517-19 
White,  Charles  C.  (1783),  314 
Whiting,  William  J.    (1780),   167 
Whitman,  William  (1779).  131-32 
Whitney,  Josiah   (1752),  Fellow,  521 
Whittelsey,  John    (1791),    739 
Whittelsey,  Samuel   (1779),  132-33 
Whittlesey,  Elisha   (1779),  133-34 
Whittlesey,  Roger   (1787),  584-85 
Wildman,  Deodat   (1784),  370 
Willard,  John    (1782),   242-43 
Williams,  Esekiel  (1785),  445 
Williams,  John  (1781),  207-09 
Williams,  Joshua    (1780),    167-69 
Williams,  Nathan  (1755),  Fellow, 

5.88 

Williams,  Nathan    (1782),  243-44 
Williams,  Stephen   (1783),  315 
Williams,  Timothy    (1785),  446 
Williams,  Warham     (1745),    Fellow, 

5.88 

Williams,  William  A.  (1780),  169-70 
Williston,  David  H.   (1787),  585-87 
Williston,  Payson   (1783),  315-16 
Wolcott,  Alexander  (1778),  80-82 
Wolcott,  Frederick   (1786),  519-20 
Wolcott,  Oliver  (1778),  82-88 
Wolcott,  Thomas  G.   (1783),  317 
Woodbridge,  William   (1780),  170-74 
Woodruff,  Esekiel  (1779),  134 
Woodruff,  Gideon   (1785).  446-47 
Woodruff,  Hezekiah  N.  (1784), 

370-72 

Woodruff,  Samuel  (1782),  244-45 
Woodward,  Aaron  (1789),  657-58 
Wood^vard,  Israel  B.   (1789),  658-59 
Woodworth,  John  (1788),  623-25 
Woolworth,  Aaron  (1784),  372-74 
Woostcr,  Benjamin    (1790),    697-700 
Wooster,  Joseph  L.  (1781),  209-10 
Wooster,  Nathan    (1781),    210 


752 


Yale  College 


Wright,  Elizur   (1781),  210-12 
Wright,  Joel  (1785),  447 
Yale,  Elihu,  portrait  of,  660 
Yale    College,    age    of    students    in, 

741 ;    building  named,  213,   521 ; 

Commencement  dinner  expenses, 

1785,  37S-76;    do.,   1786,  448-49; 

Corporation,  State  officers  added 


to,  740;  dining  hall,  246;  French 
professorship,  I ;  library,  246, 
522;  life  in,  1781,  444-45;  do., 
1790,  701 ;  philosophical  appa- 
ratus, 522,  660;  print  of,  1786, 
448;  residences  of  students  and 
graduates,  744 


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